Chuck vs Two Grunts and a Flash
by P.J. Murphy
Summary: When Beckman receives intel Volkoff Industries is interested in the former assets of The Ring, Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Morgan are assigned to locate those assets first.  What happens next is something nobody expected.  Story now complete.
1. No Ordinary Mission

_Hi there. I know it's been almost two months since I've submitted a story, but things got a little busy and I have to admit not coming up with any new ideas for a while. I guess a new season of Chuck, especially one where you know they'll have 24 episodes, is a good inspiration. The big changes I'm going to make for this story are two-fold. Firstly, I'm not going to try and kill myself by trying to crank out huge chapters every single week. This chapter is a bit shorter than my average chapter length, and that's how it will be for the story. I'll also try to keep this story in the 30-40,000 word range. Secondly, I'm just gonna let the reviews fall where they may and not get uptight about a lack of reviews. Sadly, I'm one of those people who will only do hobbies they're good at, and I couldn't keep myself from equating review counts with quality. I'm not going to worry about it this time._

_This story takes into account all episodes through 4.5 - Chuck vs. the Couch Lock. Actually, I was shocked to see nobody has attempted this story yet. If you haven't seen any Season 4 episodes yet, there will be parts of those stories here, so I don't want to spoil anything for you. This story falls within the canon of the show. This is not AU, at least as of Episode 4.5, so there's no Anna, no Alex Forrest, Stephen Bartowski is no longer with us, and there's no Jimmy Slade. Although I do have a couple of ideas for new "Forrest and Slade" stories I'll do once this story is completed._

_The story gets mildly racy at times, but nothing worse than we've seen on TV. Enjoy and please leave reviews. Let me know if you like it and/or if you have suggestions for it_.

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_**Los Angeles International Airport  
October 25, 2010  
10:30 PM**_

It was not the most pleasant flight Anton Grishenko had ever been on, but flying for fifteen hours…to say nothing about the layover in New York…was never a pleasant experience. He had to admit the weather in Los Angeles would be far more agreeable than the weather he left behind in Moscow, even though winter hadn't yet sunk its full claws into the streets. He'd take 22° C degrees over -10 any day of the week, even if he had a difficult assignment to go along with it.

Alexei Volkoff lost a valuable customer when The Ring was dismantled several months ago. They could be relied on to provide a steady stream of revenue, something a bit unusual from the United States. Alexei dealt mostly with South American dictatorships, rebel guerillas, and drug cartels. Not exactly the types of groups you felt comfortable about extending a line of credit. However, business was business, and the nature of Volkoff's work meant dealing with people he looked upon with significant revulsion.

If nothing else, Volkoff knew an opportunity when he saw it. Following the death of Marko, which still remained a mystery at this point, Volkoff decided to investigate what happened to the considerable assets The Ring left behind throughout the world. If possible, Volkoff wanted to seize those assets. Grishenko was in charge of taking a team to Los Angeles, one of the last known strongholds The Ring had, to find their secret base.

As Grishenko and his men slowly made their way to the hotel, he wondered how much of a waste of time this assignment may be. Instead of worrying about a dead client, Grishenko thought Volkoff should concentrate his efforts on eliminating the competition, which was always a concern in this business. Perhaps he could have scouted potential clients in Mexico or Central America to replace the missing revenue. But Volkoff had good instincts when it came to his empire. Besides, even the ordinary hotel they were staying in was a luxury palace compared to some of the dives he's had to stay in over his lifetime.

_**Echo Park  
October 26, 2010  
6:30 AM**_

The smile on his face couldn't be removed with a hammer and chisel.

Chuck meant what he said when he told Sarah he wasn't looking to get married yet. Even if you knew you were getting married to someone as stunning and amazing as Sarah Walker, the concept of marriage was still an intimidating one. He thought about marriage back when he was dating Jill, but that was almost a lifetime ago. He hadn't thought much about it since then. But when he heard those words whispered sweetly into his ear by the woman with whom he was indisputably in love, that she loved him and would marry him if he asked, nothing ever sounded so beautiful.

He was spooned against Sarah in their bed and completely enjoying the moment. But he needed a drink of water badly. He started to slide out of the bed, only to have Sarah hold on to his arms to keep him in place. He sighed and smiled, planting a kiss on her ear.

"I was just getting some water, baby," he gently whispered.

Sarah didn't say anything, but she took his hands and moved them under her slip to her breasts.

Chuck playfully growled. "Mmm, you're not going to make it easy for me to get out of bed, are you."

Sarah remained quiet but reached behind her to caress Chuck. He moaned in pleasure.

"You do not play fair," he pouted.

Sarah gave a triumphant grin. "If you're going to make me cuddle, be careful what you wish for. I don't do anything halfway."

"I'll get you something if you want."

She raised an eyebrow. "I think I already have what I want."

He gave her a gentle laugh. She always loved his laugh. "I meant like some orange juice or some water."

Sarah exhaled and smiled. "Some orange juice, sweetie. But don't take long."

Chuck kissed her ear again. "Promise." He got out of the bed and went quickly to the kitchen. He stuck his head into the refrigerator to reach into the back for the orange juice pitcher.

"Chuck!"

"AAAGHHH!" Chuck growled from hitting his head on the top of the refrigerator. He pulled out of it in a huff to stare at the very haggard Morgan, who looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"Morgan, what the hell are you doing up?" Chuck hissed at him.

"Dude, I'm totally sorry. I'm just…I'm in trouble here. I'm freaking out, and I can't sleep at all."

Chuck tried to process this information as he rubbed his aching head. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Morgan, but aren't guys supposed to relax when they have a girlfriend? Especially if they already have Dad's blessing?"

"No! that's exactly the problem, Chuck! You know who her dad is. He could literally…uh, Chuck, either you need to cover up or you managed to keep a big secret from me for twenty years."

"Huh?" Chuck was confused until he looked down. His eyes widened, and Chuck hid himself behind the refrigerator door. "Dammit, Morgan! You're…you've caught me at a bad time."

"Well, uh, yeah. That much is obvious. But what am I supposed to do about Alex? I mean, I'm going out of my mind trying to figure out how not to upset her, OK? I don't want to end up in a shotgun wedding that's no wedding and all shotgun!"

"Morgan, will you stop worrying about Casey? Just…Alex is a well-grounded person. If there are problems in the relationship, she'll tell you. In the meantime, just be calm and be yourself."

Morgan looked at Chuck like he just cheated on him in _Halo_. "Be myself? Dude, that's the worst advice you can give me! Even I know I shouldn't be myself around her."

Chuck growled but gathered himself. "Look, it's not that hard. You're a really nice guy, and you're a much more responsible person these days. You manage the Buy More, right? So, that requires prioritizing. Your relationship is the same thing. You make your decisions with the relationship in mind. You don't freak out about commitment, you don't spend hours on end playing videogames, you don't make stupid purchases just because they are "so epic, man!", and you consider how Alex might feel about something you do before you do it."

Morgan paused momentarily. "I do most of that videogame playing with you, Chuck."

Chuck shrugged and nodded his head. "I'm as guilty as you are, I admit it. Sarah's been asking me to cut down on the hours, too. We just have to kick the habit. It's like…quitting smoking. You know, we just play on breaks at work or while they're away. That'll be, like, our X-Box patch."

Morgan thought about it and nodded in consent. "Yeah, you're right Chuck. I just have to…just be in the relationship. Alex is beautiful, smart, funny, and I should concentrate on that. Keep it out of my head that Casey would take extreme pleasure in taking a pliers and a sledgehammer to my…personal space…if I even forget to open a car door for her."

"Chuck, what's going on?"

Morgan turned and did a double-take at seeing Sarah in her lingerie. "Oh, sorry Sarah. Uh, OK. Now I know I was interrupting something. I should…let me go…quickly."

Morgan retreated to his bedroom, taking great care not to gawk at Sarah as Chuck shook his head and moaned in frustration.

"Everything OK, Chuck? I was wondering if you were bringing me the orange juice."

"I'm sorry, Sarah. Morgan was just freaking out about being with Alex. I think he's trying to screw up his relationship before it even starts."

Sarah smiled. "That sounds like a very Morgan thing to do. But to be fair, he's grown up a bit in three years. If it wasn't for him, we'd be buried somewhere in Iran right now."

Chuck poured her a glass of orange juice while still behind the refrigerator door. "You're right. He'll work it out. Casey doesn't hand out his approval to just anybody."

Sarah looked at him oddly. "Why are you hiding behind the refrigerator door?" Sarah stepped forward and peeked behind the door. She grinned. "Oh, so you're doing that mostly because of me?"

Chuck looked down in embarrassment as he put the pitcher back in the refrigerator. "Sorry. I'm just out of my element here."

Sarah laughed and took Chuck's hand to pull him away from the refrigerator. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a passionate kiss, pressing her body up against him in the process.

"OK, that's not solving my problem," Chuck said with a light air around him. "In fact, you're making it worse."

Sarah pulled herself up on Chuck to be at eye level with him, and Chuck held on to her.

"Well, let's resolve that issue, shall we?" Sarah purred as she kissed along his neck and nibbled at his ear.

Chuck smiled and carried her back to the bedroom. "I'm at your service, Mrs. Carmichael."

_**Buy More  
October 26, 2010  
10:30 AM**_

John Casey walked around the store and lamented the fact it only took a month for the Buy More to revert back to being the Buy More he knew and loathed. Even worse, it took Morgan to point it out to the NSA they were running the store way too efficiently for comfort. He liked how well the new Buy More ran, but even he had to concede people would figure out something was wrong very quickly. Devon snooped it out, and Morgan was successful in not only bringing back the crew of losers that infested the store before, but he was also now in charge of it. However, Morgan had the good sense…or at least had the knowledge of what Casey actually did for a living…to grant him all of the real estate he desired. Things were an improvement in that department over Big Mike. Or worse…Emmett. Casey may not have been doing cartwheels when Emmett was murdered, but he found Morgan more tolerable than Emmett as a manager. Being given a proctologic exam with a chainsaw was more tolerable than Emmett as a manager.

Casey did a quick left turn when he saw the two people he did not want to deal with at this hour of the morning. Unfortunately, Jeff and Lester spotted him, and Casey was still somewhat limited in his walking ability from being shot several weeks ago. Ignoring rest and going on dangerous missions didn't exactly make his leg better, either.

"Casey, we heard you helped unload a shipment of 3-D televisions last night," Lester said in his typical devious tone.

"Yeah, Chuck and I finished setting up the demo model in the theatre room after we closed," Casey cautiously replied. "The Blu-Ray DVD player is also hooked up, and we have three sets of glasses for it.

"Oh, then we have the perfect thing to test the new TV with. See if it's up to specs."

Casey growled. "Don't say it. Don't even think it..."

Jeff held out the DVD. "Mammary Madness…in 3-D!" he said in a dramatic voice as he pushed the DVD back and forth in Casey's face to sell the 3-D aspect of it.

Casey tried to keep in his breakfast but was failing fast. "Don't even THINK about…"

"Oh, we'll wait until our lunch break, Mr. Play-By-The-Rules," Lester replied in a condescending tone. "But think about it: you get the full naked experience."

"It's almost like they're having sex with you," Jeff drooled.

"For you two, that's actually a huge improvement on your social life," Casey spat out. "But don't even think about it. Keep your perverted videos at home."

"Casey, come on. We need to make sure the TV works," Lester pleaded.

"Plus, they don't have the new _Jackass_ movie on bit torrent yet," Jeff added.

Casey pointed behind them to Big Mike, who had walked up to the trio. "You'll have to clear it with the Assistant Manager."

"What are you three talking about?" Big Mike asked in his traditional booming voice.

Casey's phone beeped with a message from Sarah. She asked Casey to bring Chuck and Morgan to Castle. "Uh, they'll explain it to you, Mike." He lowered his voice so only Big Mike could hear it. "You didn't eat a big breakfast this morning, did you?"

"Full Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny's," Big Mike beamed.

Casey shrugged. "Life's full of risks." He quickly went to find Chuck and Morgan.

_**Castle Underground Facility  
October 26, 2010  
11:00 AM**_

"This is an important mission, and it will require all four of you," General Beckman told the group as they met over videoconference. "Mr. Grimes' technical skills will actually be of some use to us."

"Sweet!" Morgan's smile was more noticeable than his beard. "I get to contribute without sending 10,000 volts through myself! Oh, wait; it's the amps that are bad. Chuck how many amps were in those cables…"

"I don't recall saying we'll have a discussion about how much you like this assignment, Mr. Grimes," Beckman admonished. Morgan went instantly silent as Beckman continued. "After your initial encounter with Volkoff Industries, Russian FSB started receiving intel Volkoff was sending teams all over the world to investigate and seize assets of The Ring. So far, the best they have done is some caches of rifles and automatic weapons. But we're afraid of Volkoff seizing any high-tech weaponry The Ring may have developed, including their Intersect computer."

"But we dismantled that computer in the subway five months ago," Sarah said.

"Correct, Agent Walker. However, our analysts recently came across some files indicating The Ring had a few front companies we didn't know about before. One of those companies owned a warehouse in City of Industry."

"With all of the warehouses and businesses there, it would be very easy to hide," Casey noted.

"That is exactly the reason we did not find it before now, Colonel. Like any organization with front companies, Parker, Devereaux, and Associates was completely clean as far as the SEC and IRS were concerned. But we reviewed satellite imaging and electrical power usage during the last eight months for that company. SoCal Edison's files indicated considerable usage from that warehouse until the time The Ring was taken down, at which point usage dropped to almost nothing. Satellite thermal imaging confirmed they had a lot of electronic equipment in there. We have to get to it before Volkoff does.

"I want the four of you to go to the warehouse. Investigate and inventory all of The Ring's assets you find there, right down to the pencil sharpeners. Once we have your report, we can send technical teams to break down the equipment."

"Understood, General," Sarah replied. Beckman disconnected the link.

"Casey, are you sure you're up to this?" Sarah asked him with some concern. "You're supposed to be using a cane to walk around right now after what happened with your old team in Iran, and I have yet to see you use it."

"I'm fine, Walker," Casey replied while trying to keep his annoyance in check. That damn Bartowski influence had rubbed off on her, and she was far more concerned about everybody than she used to be, particularly him. "Bartowski, you and Grimes get in there and figure out what The Ring has been hiding. Anything you think needs to be taken out immediately because it's too risky to leave there, you let us know. Walker and I will keep an eye out for trouble. Let's get moving."

Chuck and Morgan went to configure a pair of laptop computers for their use while Sarah drew weapons and Casey called the local NSA office for the appropriate vehicle.

_**City of Industry, CA  
October 26, 2010  
3:00 PM**_

Chuck and Morgan couldn't believe what they found. It was like a computer nerd's wet dream come true.

The warehouse owned by Parker, Devereaux, and Associates was filled wall-to-wall with computer equipment. Judging by the dust and dry air, it appeared Beckman was correct about the facility being out of commission for five months. But the equipment in there was as sophisticated as anything they had in Castle. There was no question Volkoff Industries would find it useful.

Chuck shrugged. "Well, the journey of a thousand computers begins with one program. Right, Morgan?"

Morgan continued to stare in amazement at what he saw. Chuck was fairly certain Morgan couldn't be more shocked if Alex showed up and asked him to marry her right then and there.

"Morgan?" Chuck waved his hand in front of Morgan's face. After a few seconds, Morgan returned to his present location.

"Uh, sorry Chuck. This is just epic, man! I can't believe they did all this. You could run just about anything from there. An entire country if you wanted!"

"Uh, Morgan, that isn't exactly a good thing. Remember who used to have this equipment."

"OK, you're right. You're right. Yeah, getting rid of this so it doesn't fall into enemy hands is the right move," Morgan replied as he took pictures of the equipment and catalogued them on his laptop.

Sarah joined them. "Chuck, Casey found something you better take a look at."

Chuck looked at her briefly. "Uh, no problem. Could you keep an eye on Morgan? Make sure he gets everything? There's a lot of stuff here."

"No problem," she replied as Chuck went to locate Casey.

"Sarah, come on," Morgan said in annoyance to Chuck's request. "I admit I'm not up to the talent level of you three, but I manage the Buy More. I know about having to inventory things."

Sarah looked at him with curiosity. "Is it my imagination, or is it much easier for you to talk to me here than in the apartment?"

Morgan hemmed and hawed for a second. "Well, it's a lot easier to talk to you when you don't look like you should be in a Victoria's Secret commercial."

"I would hope you find it easier to talk to me now that you have a girlfriend," Sarah replied as she gave Morgan a glare indicating he better agree with her in a hurry.

"Right, sorry. You're right. Oh, you heard Chuck and me talk this morning?"

"Morgan, I don't get how you can have so much trouble with relationships. A few quirks aside, you're a decent person with a good job. Now, anyway. You shouldn't be intimidated by women anymore."

"Uh, Sarah? No offense, but you're really the last person who should talk about not being intimidating. You are a walking, living, breathing intimidation."

Sarah nodded. "OK, but I trained to be that way. Confidence is the first thing they teach you about being an agent. But do you ever see me try to get anything or make people do what I want with my looks if it's not mission-related?"

Morgan looked a bit humbled. "No. You're actually one of the coolest people I've ever known. I mean, you put up with me. That's a hundred instant cool points right there."

She laughed. "Well, I do have Chuck to thank for that. I've never felt more at ease than I have since being with him. But that's the point. You have to get past that part of it. Alex is a great girl, but she's no different than any other woman. And she really likes you. Just relax and enjoy being with her. Forget about who her father is. I mean, you wouldn't want to break her heart even if Casey wasn't her father, would you?"

"No, you're right. You're right. I just have to make sure I don't do anything stupid. You know, not act childish, spend all night in line for the latest _Call of Duty_ game, or buy the Bluesmobile off of eBay or whatever."

"Look, you're on the team now, right? We didn't do that out of pity; you earned it. And what you did for us in Iran, if that didn't show how more mature you are these days, I don't know what does."

"OK, OK. I have to relax and just realize Alex likes me."

Sarah smiled. "Exactly. You're a…"

Sarah was interrupted by her mobile phone beeping incessantly.

"What is it?" Morgan asked.

"Chuck tied our phones with the surveillance cameras around the building. There are eight or ten people heading this way."

Morgan was already in a full panic. "What-what do we do?"

Sarah quickly looked around. She then pushed Morgan to a gap between the servers.

"Stay back here. Don't move," she commanded. Morgan put his hands up in agreement.

Chuck walked through the warehouse to Casey's location. He saw Casey in the center of the room, but the room itself is what made him stop dead in his tracks.

A computer sat in the center of the room with no other equipment surrounding it. Along the walls were rows and rows of monitors. There was nothing on the monitors at this point, but Chuck knew all too well what this room was designed for.

Casey knew that as well. "When do you think they built this?" he asked Chuck.

Chuck quickly went to the computer in the center of the room and tried to boot it up. He analyzed the files on the computer. "It looks like the files on the computer are about a year old. This must have been the prototype for the Intersect computer we found in the subway station. They were likely testing this around the time they told Daniel Shaw about his wife. After he came back from Europe, he probably told The Ring to build the one in the subway for him."

Casey shook his head. "This can't wait for our report. We have to tell Beckman right away and have her send a team to guard it."

Chuck finished loading the startup program. "This computer didn't need the Cipher material. It was good to go."

"Hey, hey!" Casey warned. "Don't start the thing. You don't need another Intersect."

"Sorry, Casey. I'm being careful not to activate it. I was just trying to find out what was in these files."

Both of their phones began to beep. They looked at the display screen on their respective phones.

"Damn, whoever it is got inside," Chuck said with considerable alarm in his voice. "They're going to find Sarah and Morgan first."

Casey pulled out his Sig Sauer P226 gun. "You go help them. I'll guard this room. Give them the full treatment and get back here quickly."

"But…"

"No buts, Bartowski. I can't run very fast, so guarding this room is where I can be best put to use. Go help Sarah and Morgan."

Chuck briefly hesitated, but he figured he wouldn't win arguments from Casey concerning tactics. He ran out of the Intersect room and headed towards Sarah and Morgan.

A team of six men slipped into the warehouse. Their leader spotted a shadow being drawn by the late-afternoon sun. He pulled out his mobile phone.

"Mr. Grishenko, someone is here and there is a tremendous amount of computer equipment in the warehouse. We'll call you back once we've captured the intruder."

He signaled his men to remain silent as they advanced forward. He quietly got on his radio and told the other three men to enter from the other side. The men with him streamed into the room where Sarah was and surrounded her. The leader looked her up and down.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked her with a leering gaze.

Sarah decided to play off of that. She gave him a lustful but business-like glance. "Just waiting for my customer to arrive. If you have a couple of Benjamin's, maybe we can do something while I'm waiting."

The man's look turned even more lascivious as the entire group turned towards her. "Kind of an odd place for you to do business, isn't it?"

Sarah shrugged. "The Five-O doesn't exactly check these places for us working gals."

Behind the group, a server's hard drive flew through the air and landed with a crash that echoed through the room. All six men turned towards the noise. Sarah immediately spun on her heel and landed a roundhouse kick at one of the men and threw a fist at the man on the opposite side of him. She kicked out the knee of a third man and pulled herself back near a pair of desks so the men couldn't attack her all at once. She landed an elbow at one man and then flipped him to the ground. The first man came at her again, but she pushed off of the desks on either side of her and landed a vertical kick on him. The second man tried to charge her, but a chair was slid across his path, and he tripped over it. Sarah quickly looked back to see Morgan grabbing another chair to smash it on the man who tripped. She was pushed from behind and stumbled forward to be grabbed by one of the men, who held her wrists behind her back. She struggled against the man but couldn't break free.

The man Morgan tripped got up and started to move towards him when everybody heard the noise behind them. The leader turned to see Chuck standing there.

"Get him," he commanded. Two of the men went after Chuck. His eyes fluttered as his Intersect located the proper program. He spun in the air and landed a kick to take one of the men out. He threw a roundhouse at the other man. Two more men went to attack him, including the one who was going after Morgan. Morgan ran with the chair and smashed it over the man holding Sarah. He didn't go down, but his grip on Sarah loosened enough for her to turn and send a butterfly kick at him. The leader went after her as Chuck took out the other two men with jabs. Sarah sent her boot to the middle of the leader's stomach. He staggered back but righted himself as Sarah landed a hard right cross at the man who held her. The leader went to attack Sarah again.

A laptop was smashed across the leader's face, and he went down. Chuck and Sarah turned and stared at Morgan in surprise. Morgan shrugged and then noticed the destroyed laptop.

"Oh, don't worry guys. I saved all of the data to a USB drive before I did that."

Chuck looked at his best friend in awe. "We should electrocute you more often."

"What about Casey?" Sarah asked.

Chuck's eyes widened. "Damn, he's still limping. There has to be at least two people heading towards him."

The three quickly ran down the warehouse to find Casey.

Casey kept his gun out as the first man attacked. Casey fired at the man, and the man went down when he took a bullet through the middle of his chest. The second man opened fire at him from just outside of the room. Casey was pinned back behind the Intersect computer. The third man used that distraction to sneak into the room on the other side. The man who was firing at Casey popped out to fire again, and Casey took him out with the last two bullets in his magazine. He tried to reload quickly, but the third man was already on top of him. The man nailed Casey with a hard cross, and Casey went down. The man tried to pull out a gun, but Casey flailed blindly with his arm and managed to knock the man's gun away. Casey got to his feet slowly and tried to move. The man attacked him and tried to get him into a choke hold. However, Casey had at least thirty pounds on the man, and he threw the man away from him. The man crashed into the Intersect computer. He pushed himself up and lunged at Casey. The two men fell to the ground as the lights began to turn off in the room. The lone door to the room began to slide shut as the man held Casey down by his throat. The man pulled out a knife and was about to plunge it into the middle of Casey's chest. Casey brought up the knee of his good leg into the man's groin. The man howled in pain as his grip on Casey's throat loosened. Casey rolled on top of him and landed a wicked haymaker on the man to knock him out. Casey looked up.

It was at that exact moment the monitors filled with thousands of images.

Casey could not close his eyes, as the images froze him in place. He could not move or look away.

"NO! CASEY!" Chuck tried to run at the door, but the door slid shut on him before he could get inside.

The images continued to flicker, and Casey saw all of them. The monitors then went blank, and Casey collapsed on top of the man he subdued.


	2. A Different Mind Set

_Hey there. I know you're bummed that Chuck got replaced by a 60-minute commercial for a book tonight, but there are 17 episodes to air, and there were 29 Mondays between now and May to air them, so there had to be the occasional week off, right? On the good side, you can still watch DVDs or even check out some of the great fanfics that have been written about our favorite nerd and CIA agent._

_Thank you for all of the responses for the first chapter of this story. I swear, I wasn't lobbying for more reviews, even though lobbying was the thing to do during election season. But I'm certainly happy this is the most reviews I've gotten for anything I've written. Of course, now I'm scared as hell to follow up the first chapter and keep the thing going. Hopefully, this chapter will be good as well._

_Enjoy and feel free to leave a review. Let me know how the story is working out for you. The general path of the story is still a bit up in the air, and maybe you see something in it I don't. I've used readers' ideas in my stories before. I always love to hear what you think._

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_**City of Industry, CA  
October 26, 2010  
3:45 PM**_

"Hurry, Chuck!"

Sarah stood at the entrance to the Intersect room in the former warehouse of Parker, Devereaux, and Associates while Chuck and Morgan tried to override the door lock. The doors slid shut before they could get in, and they feared the worst knowing Casey was in the room.

Suddenly the doors slid open.

"Chuck! Morgan! Turn away!" Sarah shouted as she turned around and shielded her eyes.

"Sarah, it wasn't us," Chuck replied. The doors opened on their own." He carefully peeked towards the room. "The screens are off."

Sarah turned around and sprinted into the room to the unconscious Casey. She carefully turned him onto his back as Chuck and Morgan ran in and knelt by Casey's side as well. She checked his pulse.

"He's still alive."

"Here, Sarah," Morgan said as he handed her a small flashlight from his bag. She pulled Casey's eyes open and checked them with the flashlight.

Chuck looked around. "Who the hell would activate the Intersect computer?"

Sarah quickly looked around at the two bodies in the room. "Casey must have been fighting one of them and someone accidentally turned it on."

"Oh, man. Is he gonna be, like, a total veg now?" Morgan's concern was admirable, but a mental filter was still necessary for him. "I mean, I'd totally help, don't get me wrong. Just, I had to take care of my mom once when she threw out her back, and helping her take a shower was kind of…"

"Morgan!" Chuck and Sarah cut him off.

"Sorry…sorry," Morgan shied away.

"Give me a hand with the computer, will you?" Chuck motioned for Morgan to join him at the computer as Sarah checked the other two men in the room. Sarah saw the fatal gunshot wound of the man Casey killed and checked his pulse to verify he was dead. She went back to the man who was lying under Casey. She pulled out her gun as a precaution as she knelt by Casey.

Chuck tried to access the programs behind the Intersect program on the computer.

"Dude, did he get…what did he get hit with?" Morgan stammered at Chuck.

Chuck looked at the files. "It's hard to make heads or tails out of this, but if I'm reading these directories correctly, this was a full program, just like the one my dad made."

"But can…can Casey handle all of that?"

Chuck threw his hands up. "I don't know, Morgan. I don't know if they ever tested Casey to see if he could handle an Intersect. But if he's OK, it would be amazing. If the program worked, he handled as much as I did and way more than Daniel Shaw."

"Whoah, wait. You mean, like, Shaw couldn't handle the Intersect? But what about…"

"The Intersect computer we found in the subway was a smaller version," Sarah interrupted. "We think Shaw only downloaded what he needed to try and take over our intelligence agencies and go after us. He still needed the Governor, so his mind must have had difficulty even with that amount."

Sarah walked over to Chuck and Morgan. "Are you saying it's possible for Casey to handle a full Intersect?"

Chuck shrugged. "I don't know. We'd have to analyze what's in this computer. Besides, we don't even know if it worked or if Casey even…"

Chuck was interrupted by a quiet groan. Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan turned around quickly to see Casey slowly moving. All three rushed to his side.

"Casey! Casey, can you hear us?" Chuck pleaded.

Slowly, Casey started to move his arms and legs, and his head gently moved from side to side. He opened his eyes slowly and had to blink a few times to snap himself out of it. Casey growled quietly as he tried to move to a sitting position. Chuck and Sarah assisted him.

"John?" Sarah asked in anticipation. "Are you OK?"

Casey slowly looked back and forth between Chuck and Sarah, both of whom had looks of hope plastered on their faces. He nodded slowly and tried to get up.

"No, stay there a minute," Sarah commanded while holding onto his shoulder. "Do you remember what happened?"

Casey grimaced from the intense headache he had. "These…these clowns came at me. I took the first two out, but the third one managed to get in. I finally got the upper hand, but…I don't know. He must have activated the computer when he crashed into the table."

"You saw the images? All of them?" Chuck asked in a voice that had shot up twenty levels of panic.

"Yeah, I think so. I looked up, suddenly the images were there, and I couldn't…couldn't…"

Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan were visibly shaken. Casey downloaded The Ring's entire Intersect program? And survived?

Casey tried to get up again, and Sarah attempted to hold him in place. "Walker, enough. We've got work to do. I have to get up sometime."

Chuck and Sarah relented and pulled Casey to his feet. He struggled to walk for a few seconds from the dizziness he was feeling. Morgan walked by his side for a few steps to make sure he didn't fall. After a moment, Casey's head cleared, and he turned to the group.

"What happened to the rest of them?"

"It's fine, Case," Morgan said quickly. "We took care of them."

Chuck gave him an odd glance. "_We_ took care of them, Neo?"

Morgan was a bit offended. "Hey, I got two of them!" Now Sarah gave him an annoyed look. "OK, maybe one and a half. Fine, you two did the work. Sorry I left my Intersect and martial arts training at home."

"Let's just call Beckman and tell her to send a team here," Casey replied with a newfound headache from listening to his annoying cohorts. "They'll want to see this."

"Whoah, wait!" Chuck couldn't believe how casual Casey was being about what happened. Casual for Casey, anyway. "You just downloaded The Ring's Intersect. You don't know if you can handle it. There might be side effects."

"If I get an erection lasting more than four hours, I'll let you know," Casey retorted in irritation. "I'm not dizzy anymore, and the only headache I have is from listening to you three. The program must not have worked. I don't feel any different."

"We'll get you back to Castle and have someone sent there to check you out," Sarah replied in her standard don't-mess-with-me tone. "Meantime, you're right. We have to call Beckman right away. Morgan, get on the phone to her and watch Casey while Chuck and I keep an eye on the men we left in the other room."

Morgan pulled out his mobile phone and dialed Beckman as Chuck and Sarah headed for the door. A voice was heard over the radio one of the dead assailants possessed.

_Team three, report. Team three, acknowledge._

Casey had his back to Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan, so they did not notice his facial expression. He briefly froze in place as he saw images of a factory, a cache of weapons, and a picture of Anton Grishenko, which positively identified him as a member of Volkoff Industries.

Casey shook off the flash, and his eyes went wide. _That didn't happen. That did NOT just happen_, he thought to himself with a panic that never registered on his face. He turned to face Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan. Thankfully, he caught Chuck's expression and could tell Chuck just had a flash of his own.

"What is it?" Casey asked him.

"These men must be with Volkoff. The man on the radio is Anton Grishenko. He's one of Volkoff's top men. Beckman's intel was 100% correct."

Grishenko's voice came over the radio. _Team 4 and Team 5, move in. Now._

"Oh boy," Morgan said in a panic. "I take it those two teams have a few less nerds in them?"

"More than likely, Grimes," Casey replied. "They were probably securing the perimeter."

"We can't let them get the facility," Sarah said as she pulled out her mobile phone and activated the emergency callout. "Our team should be here within five minutes. We have to hold off Volkoff's men until they arrive."

"Hope you have plenty of ammo, Walker. I'm down to one clip."

Casey retrieved his gun and loaded his last clip. He also pulled the guns off of the two men he shot. He walked slowly to the door of the Intersect room. Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan followed him there. Sarah readied her gun as well. They began walking towards the entrance of the warehouse.

Morgan was getting more and more nervous. "OK, I don't get it. Didn't the guy tell his guys to move in? Why aren't we, like, hip-deep in bad guys and you two are doing your _Mr. and Mrs. Smith_ thing on them?"

"Grimes, you know how in the movies the comic relief always gets killed first?" Casey growled. "You might get to that point a lot sooner than you think."

"No, he's right, Casey," Sarah quietly replied. "They're not coming straight through the front door. They're planning something."

They didn't have to wait long to find out what was planned. Several windows were smashed, and several flash grenades were thrown towards them. The team managed to turn away and cover their eyes before they went off, but the flash grenades were a diversion for the tear gas canisters that were thrown from the opposite direction. The four were overcome with smoke and started coughing. They stumbled towards the exit, careful not to open their eyes and be hit by the gas. Casey and Sarah felt along the walls to find the entrance with Chuck and Morgan right on their heels. They managed to get far enough away from the doors to open their eyes again.

Ten of Grishenko's men surrounded them. They took the guns from Sarah and Casey as the leader of the group appraised them for a moment before getting on his radio.

"We have them, sir. We'll bring them to you in a few moments."

"Very well. I want them alive. We need to find out how much they know about what's in that warehouse," Grishenko replied over the radio.

"Acknowledged, sir."

The leader put his radio away and motioned for two of the men to wash the chemicals from the faces of Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Morgan. After a few seconds, they handed small towels to each of them to dry off. Their coughing and wheezing subsided.

Two more men walked up to the leader. "We found the rest of the men inside. Those people must have knocked them out, but a few are now up and around. They're starting to pull the computer equipment out."

"Good," the leader replied. He then gestured to four of the men with him. "Give them a hand. Get as much as you can into the truck. They probably have backup on the way. The rest of you, escort these four to the van."

The leader took off with the two men who reported to him. The four men the leader tasked followed behind them. The remaining six men started moving towards Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Morgan. One of the men suddenly stood toe-to-toe with Chuck.

"It's you. You were the one to attack us in Moscow."

The man took his gun and pistol-whipped Chuck. He fell to the ground unconscious. Sarah instinctively started to move towards that man, but he turned and pointed his gun in her face.

"Don't even try it," he seethed at her. "You three are of no value to Volkoff."

Casey glared at the gun mere inches from Sarah. Suddenly, his eyes began to flutter as instructions regarding kung-fu, karate, jujitsu, boxing, street combat, and military training techniques flooded his mind.

His eyes snapped forward and he brought his arm up to knock the gun away from the man. He pushed Sarah and Morgan aside as he spun and landed a kick to the face of the man who assaulted Chuck and threatened Sarah. He turned and threw a chop at the throat of another man, following it with a thrust at the man's face with his palm. He tripped up a third man and landed a vicious hook on him as he went down. The first man got up and charged at Casey with a knife. He grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it while landing a shot at the man's sternum. Casey brought his leg up and smashed the man's wrist on his knee to make him drop the knife. He then kicked the same leg into the man to knock him back down.

Sarah, who had been looking in complete shock at the sudden turn of events, shook it off and landed a punch at a fourth man who attempted to attack Casey from behind. That man tried to pivot and throw a punch of his own at her, only to have Sarah duck down out of the way and then leap to land a hard boot at the man. A fifth man tried to grab Sarah, but she threw an elbow at his head to knock him forward and landed a hard chop between his shoulder blades to take him down. The last man went at Casey. He spun in the air and knocked the man out with a final flying kick. Casey looked back and forth to see Sarah and Morgan were OK.

He then hung his head. He couldn't deny it anymore: he was an Intersect now.

Morgan slowly got up and looked at the six men on the ground. He stared at Casey in total astonishment.

"Uh, Case, are you sure the program didn't work?"

Casey slowly looked up and shrugged. "I know Kung-Fu." He looked down at the ground again. "This sucks."

A large contingent of government vehicles pulled up, and agents from the NSA swarmed the area. A team went inside to find Grishenko's men while another team attended to the ones Casey and Sarah took out. Sarah turned to Casey and noticed a considerable amount of blood near Casey's foot.

"Casey, you're bleeding." Sarah quickly went to find a chair and pulled it up to him. "Have a seat. I want to take a look at that."

Casey waved her off. "It's fine, there's nothing…"

"Sit down!"

Intersect or no Intersect, even Casey knew not to argue with Sarah when she had the look on her face she did now. He slowly sat down on the chair. Sarah retrieved the knife from one of Grishenko's men and started cutting the leg off of Casey's pants.

"Walker, if I wanted to show off my legs, my wardrobe would be all miniskirts like yours is," he growled.

"Shut up," Sarah crossly replied as she pulled the pants leg off and saw the damage. She signaled one of the agents to send for a medic as she rolled up the pants leg and applied pressure where the blood was coming out of Casey's leg."You reopened the wound you had from being shot. You might be out of action for a lot longer this time."

Casey shook his head in displeasure at that thought. "A couple of no-talent Commies aren't gonna keep me out of the field."

Sarah stared at him. "But I will. What good can you do in the field if you aren't even able to walk?"

Casey growled. Between knowing he had an Intersect and Walker mothering him, he was becoming frustrated very quickly. "You were so much easier to deal with before you had to put Bartowski's cable into your USB port."

A medic arrived to take care of Casey. Behind Sarah, Chuck woke up slowly and tried to get to his feet. Sarah and Morgan helped him up.

"Is everybody OK? Did I miss anything?"

Sarah and Morgan glanced at Casey, who was being attended to by the medics and still quite stunned over having an Intersect.

"You…missed…one or two things," Sarah cautiously replied.

_**Echo Park  
October 28, 2010  
9:00 PM**_

Casey sat alone in his apartment after spending the previous forty-eight hours at the hospital. Like any good agent, lying in a hospital room was the last thing he wanted to do. There was so much to do, especially since half of Grishenko's men were able to escape with a significant amount of equipment from the warehouse before the NSA moved in. However, both Devon and Ellie made it their mission in life to keep an eye on him while he was at Westside, going so far as to threatening to keep him sedated and handcuffed to the hospital bed if he even attempted to walk out. It was bad enough for Ellie's instincts as a doctor to be unyielding in manners of patient care, but now she was several months pregnant, which put her protectiveness to a whole new level. Walker had been equally insufferable since she finally admitted her feelings to the nerd. And now Alex had been stopping by to keep a wary eye on her father. And he thought his mother was a tough lady.

If that wasn't bad enough, Beckman ordered him to stay away from the Buy More until she consulted with her advisors over this amazing turn of events. And in a final insult, he came home a few hours ago to find all of his alcohol locked up tightly. Ellie's orders: no booze for at least a week while he recovered. He had flipped through the channels already. He wasn't much of a baseball fan, and there weren't any hockey or basketball games that held his interest.

He heard the lock open on his apartment, but a quick look at the monitor let him know Bartowski and Walker were coming in. He was really starting to regret giving him a copy of his apartment key.

"Casey?" Chuck called out as he entered the apartment. Casey replied with one of his patented low growls until he saw the bag in Chuck's hand from Casey's favorite Chinese restaurant. He had to admit the moron was beyond infuriating, but Bartowski did have a heart.

"Hey, Casey. We…just wanted to check in and see how you're doing." Chuck slowly approached him and handed him the bag.

"Fine," was Casey's curt reply. He opened the bag and softened his stance a bit. "Thanks for bringing dinner over."

Sarah smiled. "It was the least we could do. What you did the other day…"

"Don't want to talk about it," Casey cut her off before either of them could get started.

"Come on, you can't act like that." Chuck brought chairs from the kitchen table. The two sat on either side of Casey. "What you went through is very traumatic."

"It doesn't mean we're going to have long, weepy discussions about our lady feelings."

"Casey, I'm the one person you can talk to about this. I know what you just went through. How it can turn your life upside-down."

Casey looked between Chuck and Sarah. "Yeah, that whole Intersect thing really put a crimp in your sex life."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Chuck was starting to get angry. "It cost my family a lot. My relationship with Ellie, it got my father killed…"

Casey exhaled. "OK, fine. It wasn't all 'be the hero and get the girl' for you. But the Intersect didn't kill your father. A traitorous bastard killed your father. Someone who held everybody responsible for his wife. He wanted revenge and was willing to betray country to get it. It wasn't about you or your family. The man who killed your father was a coward."

The three were silent for a moment before Sarah spoke up. "Look, could you at least do us the favor of not thinking nobody is going to help you? We've been together for far too long for you to think that way. You know we're not going to let you go through this alone."

Casey quietly snorted. "This from the woman who promised to chain me to my apartment to keep me from working. Try saving the handcuffs for your boy toy here."

"Someone has to watch out for you," Sarah replied with a firm tone. "That's one of your biggest faults: you don't have any regard for yourself. You have a daughter now, Casey. And there's no way I ever want to tell her something horrible happened to her father. And if getting in your face about not taking care of yourself is what it takes, then that's what I'll do."

Casey was quickly discovering how annoying being on sick leave was going to be when there was a knock on the door. Chuck went to the door and found Morgan waiting behind it.

"Hey, big guy." Morgan took several very timid steps inside the apartment. "I talked with your daughter. I told her you aggravated an old injury, but you should be fine."

"I DID aggravate an old injury, idiot," Casey seethed.

"Well, yeah, that's true. But she wanted to know details on how you did it, so I just told her you were doing some exercising, a little too much, down at the gym. You know, stuff like that."

Casey noticed the bag Morgan was carrying. "If you were bringing me dinner, the lovebirds beat you to it."

Morgan did a double-take with the bag. "This? Oh, no. I took Alex out to dinner right after I was done in the Buy More, and we passed an ice cream place on the way home. Figured you might want a couple of scoops."

He handed the bag to Casey. "I went with a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate. I figured you were a basic kind of ice cream guy. I can go back and get the Rocky Road if you really need it."

"This is fine, Grimes," Casey replied. He turned to Sarah as he took out the ice cream cup. "And don't even think of telling me to finish my dinner before having any dessert."

Sarah put her hands up. "I wasn't going to say a thing. You're a grown man; you can eat your meals in whatever order you wish." Her face contorted in disgust, and she wiped the edge of Casey's mouth with a napkin. "But learn some manners in front of your guests."

"Look, big guy, is there anything you need? Anything we can get you? Aspirins? Pick up a DVD from Blockbuster?"

"Enough with the ass-kissing," Casey irritably retorted. "Just…I'll be in Castle when Beckman's ready to report. Until then, do what you always do. But keep Alex away from here. She'd probably drive me crazy trying to take care of me if she saw me like this."

"Come on, Case," Chuck replied. "She wouldn't do that to you. You should feel lucky she wants see you after all this time."

"I'd rather she do it when I'm fully healthy. I already have enough people aggravating me. Do I really need one more?"

There was another knock at the door. "Hi, John! How are you doing?"

Casey looked to the ceiling in complete aggravation. "Do those two plans these things out?"

Ellie and Devon entered the apartment. Ellie carried a large assortment of flowers with a small teddy bear attached to a stick inserted into the vase.

"Uh, El. I think food should have been the way to go," Morgan muttered quietly.

Ellie looked around at the food already in the apartment. "I think that's already been covered. And don't make me come back here and start cooking meals that are actually good for you, John. You weren't walking with the cane we gave you, you went back to work too soon, and now look at you."

"Not necessary, Ellie. And don't even think about cleaning one thing in here," Casey replied, this time attempting to keep the vitriol out of his replies. Even Casey wasn't dumb enough to tick off a pregnant woman.

"Babe, calm down," Devon replied. "He was the big hero out there the other day. What you did, man, that was totally…"

Casey growled at Devon. Devon put his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, John. I promised."

Chuck looked at Devon oddly. "What was that about?"

"John promised not to do anything stupid while at the hospital like, leave, and would rest up as long as I didn't use the A-word around him."

Chuck was ready to fall to the floor in hysterics. "You can't say 'awesome' in front of him anymore? Oh, man. There's a better chance of nobody smoking pot in a Judd Apatow movie." That was met by an angry glare from Devon and an annoyed grunt by Casey.

Ellie went to check Casey's leg. "Ellie, you don't have to…" But Ellie put up a cautionary finger to silence him.

"It appears to be healing fine this time, John. But Devon already talked to that general lady, and she knows she'll have to answer to me if she tries to put you back in the field before we give our approval."

Casey was growing weary of the entire situation, and it had only been forty-eight hours. He still didn't even know how to deal with having an Intersect in his head. The only saving grace thus far is he hadn't flashed on anything since the warehouse. Situations where someone's life was on the line were much simpler. Had Chuck not come back on that radio in Moscow after Sarah and he heard the gunshots, he would have been killed trying like hell to take out every last man Marko had. But this was something he didn't know how to handle. He saw everything Chuck went through in four years with the Intersect, but Chuck was one of those people who was able to turn any situation into a positive. He actually envied Chuck for that. But how do you deal with something like this when your persona is of the 'shoot first, ask questions later' variety?

He must have given away a little sign of his fatigue because Sarah was getting out of her chair. "We have a lot of work to do tomorrow. We should probably call it a night."

Everybody said goodbye to Casey. Devon shook his hand, and Ellie gave him a little kiss. Casey shook his head and even gave a little smile when she did. Protecting Chuck and his family was one of the most daunting tasks he ever had to face. And it was the one he was the most proud of.

_**Castle Underground Facility  
October 29 2010  
10:15 AM**_

"I don't want to hear it, Walker. I used the cane, didn't I?"

"We could have brought you down in the emergency lift."

Casey couldn't believe Sarah was giving him grief for simply walking down the stairs into Castle.

"That's only for emergencies. Hence the name 'EMERGENCY' lift. Me limping can be classified as a mild annoyance at best."

"Obviously, you don't realize how much you're annoying me right now; otherwise you wouldn't be saying it was mild."

"We have work to do, and I'm not going to get it done sitting on my ass in my apartment."

"No, Chuck and I have work to do. You have to rest."

"Cut me a break, will you? I've rested enough. It's not like I'm going skydiving later. I'm just going to hear Beckman's assessment. How dangerous can that be?"

Sarah exhaled. "Fine. But when the meeting is over, you go straight back home."

Casey made a face at her. "Yes, MOM."

Chuck and Morgan descended the stairs as one of the computers beeped. Sarah took the remote for the video conferencing system and pushed a few buttons. General Beckman's face appeared on the screen.

"Colonel Casey, I told you to rest."

"Respectfully General, it's only my leg that needs a rest. The rest of me is doing fine."

"Really? Even having an Intersect in you is not troubling you at all?"

"It's no problem as long as I don't have to flash on anything. I'll leave that to Bartowski."

Beckman nodded. "As it turns out, I don't have much of a choice but to use you anyway. The same applies to Mr. Grimes."

"Grishenko got away with a lot of the equipment before our team could seal off the area," Sarah said quietly.

"Correct, Agent Walker. Obviously, they weren't able to get to the Intersect computer, but we are concerned the equipment and files they did get might lead them to find out about it. If Volkoff knows about the Intersect computer, there's no telling how much he'd do to get his hands on it…or anybody who might be an Intersect.

"Fortunately, we were able to uncover a few potential buyers he had lined up. We have reason to believe Grishenko is going to sell whatever equipment and data Volkoff doesn't want to those buyers. Chuck, Sarah, I want you to go in undercover at a party being held tomorrow night. It's a Masquerade Ball at the Four Seasons. See if you can locate Grishenko or his buyers. Mr. Grimes, you'll be undercover where Casey would normally be at the ball. Colonel Casey, you'll handle surveillance out in the van. You may flash on individuals Chuck doesn't."

"Uh, General?" Chuck had a look of concern on his face. "About Casey's Intersect? If we're able to get the data off of the computers we found, shouldn't we find a way to get Casey's Intersect out? I mean, maybe my father left something behind. An instruction book or something."

It was the first time Chuck, Sarah, and Casey saw genuine surprise on Beckman. "Why would we want Colonel Casey to get rid of his Intersect?"

Now Chuck was the surprised one. He thought the answer was obvious. "Maybe, he doesn't want it? I mean, he's done great work without one. I wouldn't even be alive if it…"

"Agent Bartowski, we went through considerable trouble to upgrade the facilities out there because the President thought you were a tremendous asset to the security of the country. And now we have two people with that capability. Why on earth would we ever simply throw that away?"

"General, Casey didn't ask for an Intersect. Maybe I wanted to become an agent last year, but none of us were expecting this to happen. It isn't fair to make Casey go through this just because he was trying to protect us."

"I am not here to have a debate about what's fair. He was able to handle the Intersect program, and I don't see a reason to take it out of him. You can create a Governor to keep his mind intact. Unless it poses a danger to him, the Intersect stays in Colonel Casey. End of discussion." Beckman terminated the link.

Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan turned to Casey. To his credit, he did not say a word. But it was obvious to the three of them how Casey felt about Beckman's orders.

"You OK, Casey?" Morgan asked.

Everybody could see Casey's guard go instantly up. "Fine. Let's get ready for the ball."

"No, wait!" Chuck wasn't sure with whom he was more upset: Beckman for treating Casey like a piece of meat, or Casey for blindly accepting it. "You are not going to keep the Intersect if you don't want it."

"Beckman's orders were quite clear," Casey quietly replied.

"The hell with orders! You were trying to protect the Intersect computer from Volkoff's men, and now she is gonna treat you like a piece of disposable property? You can't let that happen!"

"I've got news for you, Bartowski. She already thinks of all of us as disposable property. Field operatives have always been considered expendable. Or did you forget the whole 'the secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions' deal?"

"Well, if it doesn't matter if we live or die, why should it matter whether you get the Intersect taken out or not?"

"You heard her. The Intersect is a success. And if having one in my head means the country is even more secure, than that's what I have to do."

"Casey, let me ask you something," Sarah said in a much calmer mood than Chuck. "If she gave you the choice and everybody lived with whatever you decided, would you want the Intersect in you?"

"That's irrelevant…"

"John." Sarah stared at him in a way Casey knew she was asking him the question as a friend and not an agent. "I want the truth. Forget about being an agent. Do you really want the Intersect in you?"

Casey sat quietly for a few moments, but it felt like an eternity to him. He finally looked at Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan. "If you had asked me that question a few years ago, I would have been happy to keep it. Helping the country, having all of those skills, it sounds great. I sure as hell liked beating the crap out of those punks. But you were right, Chuck. It does come at a price. And now I have far too much to lose with having a daughter."

Casey slowly nodded. "I did my job for twenty years without one. And I could easily do my job now without it. But it's academic, Chuck. We don't have your father to help us anymore."

Chuck was much quieter than he was a few minutes ago. "Maybe I can find something in my father's basement that gives me information on how to remove the Intersect. Between what's down there and what I already know, I could write a program to take it out. It would take time, though. I'd probably have to be at the computer almost every waking moment."

Morgan tried to get everyone's attention by waving his hand. "Case, not that I'm not completely behind you getting that thing out, but what about finding this Grishenko guy? Won't we need both of you for that? I mean, I could take Chuck's place, but even I have to concede I don't really belong at a fancy dress party unless I'm refilling your drinks. Besides, Sarah's, like, half a foot taller than me when she's in heels.

"Moron's got a point," Casey replied. "You need to be at the party to blend in with Walker, Chuck. And we can't call for backup without alerting Beckman."

Chuck sat quietly for a moment. Suddenly, that smile Sarah always loved to see drew itself across Chuck's face. "I think I know who can sub for me at the party."

Sarah looked at him quizzically. "Who?" Suddenly she figured it out and smiled, too. "Do you think we can coax him out of retirement?"

Chuck grinned. The timing couldn't have been better. "If we play our cards right, she might even help us."


	3. With A Little Help From Our Friends

_Hello. Just posting another chapter to my story. I tried to keep this down in terms of the size, but I started writing, and the ideas started snowballing out of control. There also wasn't a good breakpoint to split the chapter, so I hope you don't mind the longer chapter. _

_This pushes the T rating a bit at times, but hopefully it's in a funny way. This chapter is a little light on Chuck himself, but it definitely involves many of the other characters._

_I'm going to keep my holiday tradition of doing a one-chapter story. However, I don't have the guts to write an M-rated Thanksgiving story. Honestly, I'm not really sure what a good M-rated Thanksgiving story would be about._

_As always, please leave reviews. A good thing to do in reviews, at least to me, is point out if you caught any of the pop culture references. I try to use a lot of them in my stories, and I'm not sure if I managed to slip them past you or not. Such as the name of the company which owns the warehouse._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

_**Buy More  
October 29, 2010  
11:45 AM**_

Casey walked around the Buy More, and the most horrifying thought crossed his mind. Worse than the waterboarding he received in Syria; worse than the injections he received at the hands of the North Korean government.

He was starting to miss working here.

A cold shiver went though his body as he limped across the floor, watching the various employees, both governmental and clueless, either efficiently assist customers with what they needed or send them out the door screaming for their lives. And right then, he had a desire to move a Beastmaster.

_What the hell has happened to me?_

The last several days were unlike anything he ever endured. He didn't know how to deal with this. And damned if he was going to ask the moron for advice on how to deal with being an Intersect. But he thought about what he told Bartowski, Walker, and Grimes. He could have lived with Beckman's orders, even if he didn't agree with them. And perhaps any other team would have just left well enough alone. But this wasn't any other team.

The things Casey encountered over the last four years would make even the most hardened operative take pause. And he was one of those hardened operatives; his fingernails could have been used to cut diamonds. Yet the ingratiating nerd he was originally assigned to capture and then assigned to protect…_and once ordered to kill_, he grimly thought…continued to surprise him at every turn. Chuck was a full-fledged agent now and did more than he ever saw any government agent do. And through it all, he was still that same annoying optimist, that unorthodox geek who got them out of trouble as much as he got them into it. Someone who was, in his own goofy inimitable style, as concerned about Casey's well-being as Casey was about his. It didn't take a psychology degree to figure out how a cold-hearted seductress like Sarah Walker could fall for the guy. He represented so many of the things she never had in her life: stability, faith, laughter, and most disgustingly to Casey, love. Walker would never go back to being the calculating, unfeeling, black-widow agent she used to be. But as Casey was now discovering by being around these people, perhaps she should never try.

"CASEY!"

Casey quietly growled. Big Mike was calling him to his office. Casey wasn't sure what Big Mike wanted, as the Buy More was told Casey was on medical leave. On the good side, they made the cover story sound heroic: Casey was shot while trying to prevent a gas station clerk from being killed by a robber. Unfortunately, Big Mike, Jeff, and Lester continued to be the bane of his existence, regardless of how necessary they were to maintain the cover of the store, now that it was run by the NSA.

Casey entered Big Mike's office and was actually a bit surprised.

"Is that a Chicken Carbonera sub from Quizno's?" Casey asked him.

Big Mike had a smile on his face only a grizzly bear noshing on a twenty-pound trout could have. "I woke up this morning, and for some reason, I just had a hankering for some chicken smothered in mozzarella cheese with mushrooms, bacon, and Alfredo sauce. Mmm!"

"So, uh, no…"

Big Mike shook his head. "For some reason, I haven't had much desire for Subway in the last few weeks. Been everywhere else. Blimpie's, Jersey Mike's, I even had the big cheeseburger at Carl's Jr.! Although I don't mind Subway on Mondays for some weird reason. I don't get it."

"What did you want to see me about?"

"Oh, I just wanted to say I'm proud of ya! The way you handled that punk at the gas station? I just knew in the back of my mind, the way you work around here, you've got what it takes to handle pressure. And let me tell you, when you have this job, the pressure's comin' after you."

It was all Casey could do not to roll his eyes. He helped stop a staged coup of America's intelligence agencies, prevented World War III, and Big Mike thought the Buy More was real pressure?

"Thanks," he quietly replied. "Was there anything else?"

Big Mike checked the door. "Just wanted to give you some…insider information. Something they let us management types know about but not you slackers out on the floor. There's a Store Manager position opening up at our Torrance location. If you got a resume, just say the word, and I can get you an interview. I think you got what it takes to whip their sorry asses into shape at that store."

It took Casey great effort to remain in character. "Well, uh, that's interesting, Mike. And thank you…for thinking about me. But wouldn't you want something like that? Get back to being the man in charge?"

Big Mike's eyes darted back and forth suspiciously, and he silently gestured for Casey to close his office door. "Son, I'd do that in a heartbeat. But you know, uh, there's kind of a situation. I think you know what I'm talking about. I can't let Morgan down here. I mean after all, his mother and I have gotten close in the last eighteen months. If I were to leave him high and dry, that may not go over well with his mother, and then I don't get my cuddle time. Right? And I NEED my cuddle time after a hard day. Especially when she wears that sexy little merry widow corset she has. When she has that thing on, it's like a "Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl" waiting to happen! And I get to…"

"OK, I see your point," Casey interrupted before he became physically ill. "I'll get my resume organized and email it to you."

Big Mike bounced up and shook his hand. "Excellent, John. I know you're gonna do the right thing. Now it's time for me to get back to this toasty sub!" Big Mike sat down quickly to feast on his lunch. Casey couldn't leave the office any faster if he was in a Formula One car.

_**Echo Park  
October 29, 2010  
6:00 PM**_

Ellie had another rough day at work. She knew trying to keep up with the pressure of being a doctor while pregnant was going to be tough, and she even knew this phase would be one of the toughest parts. At least when she got to the third trimester, the hospital wouldn't expect her to work as much. But today tested her like she had never been tested before. In fact, the cute body builder with the strained shoulder tendons she treated today never realized how close he made Ellie come to an AMA review board.

Devon was going to be home any moment. He got her into this mess, and he was going to get her out of it.

She took a look in the mirror. For being seventeen weeks pregnant, she didn't look half-bad. Her stomach was starting to show, but it was still at the point where it wasn't a burden. It was at the "sexy baby bump" level, and she was going to enjoy it for the month or two she would have it. She survived the first trimester, when it felt like she spent half of her time in the bathroom and every part of her body felt sore. But this was the "good period" of pregnancy, if there was truly such a thing. Much of the soreness was gone, people were being incredibly nice and sweet to her, always trying to do things for her, and she was starting to get really excited about bringing a little girl into the world.

And right now, she could easily replace Angelina Jolie in the role of Lara Croft.

She knew her breasts would get larger when she got pregnant. Even guys knew this little tidbit in the process of having a child. It was quite annoying at first, but most of that could be attributed by how sore they were…also something she knew would happen. But she never gave much thought to it before now. Devon had always complimented her on her figure, and she knew she was very attractive. Devon and she failed their first assignment in UCLA Medical School for a little tryst in the supply closet. It was so worth it then, and given her career and life since that day, it was even more worth it now.

She turned when she heard the door open. "Hi, honey!"

Devon had his usual smile that could put anybody in a good mood. Truthfully, that wasn't exactly what she was hoping for, given what she had on.

"Babe, how are you doing?"

Devon crossed the room to give her a kiss. "And how is my favorite lady in the world?"

"Oh, I'm doing…"

Devon didn't wait to hear the answer, as apparently it was the little lady inside of Ellie whom he was addressing. Devon kneeled down and kissed Ellie's stomach. "And how's my sweet little girl? Did you have a good day in there? Mommy took good care of you, right?"

Devon's head went back for a moment to take in the black bra and panties Ellie was wearing under her silk robe. He looked up and smiled, and Ellie was glad he finally clued himself in.

"Hey, good thinking, babe. Much easier for me to talk to our little angel without all those clothes in the way," he said as he went back to kissing and caressing Ellie's stomach. "Are you going to grow up and be a doctor like Mommy and Daddy are?"

This was not going according to plan, and Ellie was starting to get a tad irked. She took Devon's face and pulled him up to hers. She immediately put her lips on his.

"Hi, baby," she said in a sultry voice between pressing her body into his and flitting her tongue deep inside his mouth.

He pulled back. "Are you doing OK, babe? Do you need me to get you anything? Water? Juice? Massage your tired feet?"

"No," she hoarsely replied, almost growling, as she turned him and pressed him up against the wall, kissing him wantonly. She took his hands and put them on her breasts as she squeezed his ass. He tried to put his hands down, only to have Ellie grab them and put them back on her breasts. He put his hands back down again.

"Uh, babe," he nervously started. "You'll be nursing her before long and…"

She looked into his eyes with an odd combination of anger and lust. "Devon, that's five months away. Right now, they need to feel something a whole lot different than that."

Ellie practically wrenched his arms up to put his hands back on her breasts as she snaked her tongue down his throat and started undoing his belt. Devon's eyes went wide and he backed several steps away from her.

"Uh, Ellie. You are…what's going on with you tonight?"

That was the last straw. Ellie's last bit of self-control was gone. "What do you think I'm trying to do, Devon? You're a doctor; you of all people should know what a woman goes through when she's pregnant! I've spent the last three months feeling every kind of emotion and pain from this, and now my hormones are sending my sex drive over the cliff! It was so bad today, I almost jumped a patient! And guess what? You're the one who got me pregnant! You said you wanted to be involved in every part of the process; well this is one of them! You got me into this mess, and now it's time for you to take care of me! So either you take me into that bedroom right now and make love to me, or I'll tie you to your stair-climber machine and do things to you that would make a hooker blush!"

The knock on the door couldn't have come at a better time. Or a worse time, depending on whom you talked to.

"Dammit!" Ellie screamed.

"Thank God," Devon said in relief.

He quickly went to the door, and Ellie closed her robe. Devon opened the door to find Chuck and Sarah there.

"Hey, how are you kids doing?" Devon asked in a tone that almost conveyed gratitude.

"We're doing…fine…Awesome," Chuck said carefully. "Can we talk to you two for a few minutes?"

Ellie sighed in frustration, but Devon was practically jumping up and down for joy. "No problem. That sounds good. Let me go get some drinks. Uh, honey? You want some juice?" Devon left before Ellie could answer.

"Hi, guys." Ellie was considerably downbeat.

"What's wrong, sis?" Chuck asked in his usual over-caffeinated optimistic voice.

Ellie tiredly waved her hand. "It's nothing. It's…"

"Come on. The least I can do is lend you an ear when you have problems, right? You helped me enough times over the years. What's the problem? Tell me."

Ellie gave him a peculiar look. "Uh, OK. I'm in my fourth month of pregnancy, which means my breasts have gotten huge and I'm perpetually horny, but I can't get Devon to have sex with me. Could you please convince your brother-in-law to boink your sister?"

Chuck took several cautious steps backwards. "Uh, Sarah? Jump in anytime here."

Sarah's head snapped in his direction as her eyes widened. She carefully turned back to Chuck's sister. "Um, well, Ellie…"

Ellie put her hand up to stop Sarah's discomfiture. "I'm sorry. It's been a bad day. I just need something to take my mind off of things."

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other and shared a private smile. It was almost as if Devon and Ellie were doing all the work for them.

"It's funny you should mention that, El," Chuck said as the three moved over to the dining room table. "We had a favor to ask of you, and it's kind of an important one."

"What is it?" she asked as Devon joined them at the table and put drinks in front of everybody.

"We need to borrow Devon for something…"

"Take him. He's yours," Ellie quickly replied.

Devon looked at his wife oddly. "Babe, I…I'm trying to…"

"Ellie, maybe we should explain everything first. It's about Casey," Sarah began. "General Beckman is putting him back to work, and she ordered Casey to keep his Intersect."

Ellie growled loud enough to scare a lion. "After everything we went though to fix John, that unfeeling little troll is going to…"

"That's…that's not the problem," Chuck quickly replied. "Casey would only be in the surveillance van. He wouldn't be doing anything dangerous. The problem is that Casey doesn't want the Intersect. I have to come up with a way to get it out of him."

Ellie and Devon were silent for a moment before Devon spoke up. "Uh, not to question your skills Chuck, but are you going to be able to come up with something to do that? I mean, the Intersect was your father's deal, and…"

Chuck nodded. "I'm hoping he left some files or some computer programs at his cabin or the house we grew up in. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm not going to stop until Casey has it out. He didn't sign up for this, and I won't let Beckman just treat him like that."

"What does this have to do with us? Why do you need Devon?" Ellie asked.

Sarah continued. "We have a mission tomorrow night to locate a person who is somewhat related to Casey's Intersect. We have to infiltrate a masquerade ball to keep an eye on him to see who his contacts are. We'll be one person short if Chuck works on this, and since we're doing this against orders, we can't call anybody in to help us. We want Devon to attend the party with me as my date. That way, I can observe anything that is going on without raising suspicions."

Devon was hesitant. "Sarah, not that I don't want to help Casey, but are you sure…"

"We'd be happy to do it," Ellie replied and Devon snapped his head in her direction.

"Whoah, babe," Devon protested. "What if we run into, you know…"

Sarah quickly shook her head. "It should be relatively safe. All we would have to do is walk around the party and pretend to have a good time. Nothing more. It's a masquerade ball, so they won't see our faces."

"Casey will be out in the van with our surveillance computer, and he'll run anybody you see through our facial recognition software," Chuck added. "Morgan will also be at the ball, but he'll be undercover as a server. It'd be a little…odd…to have him play Sarah's date."

"That much is certain," Ellie replied with the tiniest amount of disparagement, although she had to admit Morgan had matured considerably since he started dating Alex and became manager of the Buy More.

She turned to her husband. "Devon, we got out of Costa Gravas with Chuck and Sarah's help; I think you could handle helping them out at a party. Nobody will be trying to take over the government, right? Anything we can do to keep Casey from hurting himself even more."

Sarah paused and thought about the last thing Ellie said. A tiny smile came to her face. "Actually, Ellie, you may be able to help us, too. Perhaps you can make sure Casey behaves himself."

"You want me to keep an eye on him in the van?" she asked, to which Sarah nodded. Ellie grinned. "Oh, I think I can do that."

"Sarah, won't Casey be mad as hell if he thought we were trying to baby-sit him?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, he'll want to kill someone," Sarah replied with a devious look. "But that someone won't be Ellie. He'll listen to her."

"Not to worry, Sarah," Ellie said. "John will not leave that van tomorrow night."

"We'll meet here at seven tomorrow night to plan everything. Thank you for your help. We can't tell you how much this means to us."

Ellie smiled. "It's the least we owe you after everything you did for our family."

_**Echo Park  
October 30, 2010  
11:00 AM**_

Alex was upset at herself for falling behind on the term paper that was due on Monday. Morgan making a racket in the kitchen wasn't helping her at all.

"Morgan, what are you doing in there?"

"Uh, nothing sweetie. Just…"

"It sounds like you keep dropping glasses. It's driving me crazy. How many could you possibly need?"

"I'm just uh, you know, working on something for the Buy More. It's…"

Morgan froze as Alex came into the kitchen and stared at him. He was carrying a serving tray with a pair of overturned glasses on it. He also had a towel laid across his wrist. The glasses surrounding him on the floor clued Alex in on what Morgan was attempting.

"Why are you pretending to serve drinks?" She asked in that way women have to make men cave instantaneously.

Morgan was hesitant. "It's for something I have to do tonight. I have to practice, and…"

"Is this for a mission?"

"Well, uh, yeah. Big assignment for me tonight. I got sort of a promotion."

Alex eyed him skeptically. "What do you mean by 'sort of' a promotion?"

"It's…I…I'm sort of working inside tonight. I have actual responsibilities, and I'm a little, you know, nervous."

"Sweetie, don't take this the wrong way, but my father's letting you do surveillance tonight? What's going on? Is something wrong with him?"

"No, no, he's fine," Morgan tried to reassure her…and failed.

Alex stood toe-to-toe with Morgan. "What is going on?"

_**Encino, CA  
October 30, 2010  
2:00 PM**_

Chuck took a look around his father's underground bunker. There were so many files here, so many old programs lying around. Over two decades of research was staring him in the face. And somewhere in there was the answer to helping Casey getting rid of his Intersect.

He couldn't deny it: he was intimidated.

He grew up always thinking his father was a very smart person, regardless of how distant he always was from Ellie and him. But he never really knew how much his father accomplished until all of this started over three years ago at his birthday party. It amazed him to this day his father had done all of this…created the Intersect, programmed hardware that could override the government's best systems, helped them in eliminating Fulcrum…and yet sometimes it felt like it was all in vain. Even though Casey was right, that it was a traitorous coward that killed his father and not what his father created, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if his father hadn't done any of this. He thought about how different his life would have been if Bryce didn't get him kicked out of Stanford, or if he just threw away that email, or if Morgan hadn't accepted that date with Sarah for him, or if he just destroyed the Intersect instead of downloading it that night after Bryce was killed.

But those things did happen. And as horrifying as it was at times…seeing his father gunned down in cold blood, almost losing Sarah, or finding out his mother could be a traitor…he also realized that he became so much more than he ever thought he could be. And through it all, he tried to remain that person everybody could count on, whom everybody thought was a very special individual. And he was the person who had a beautiful and amazing woman fall in love with him.

He gingerly placed his laptop on an empty desk and plugged it in. He attached the portable drive containing the data from The Ring's Intersect program, and he started analyzing the programming code.

_There has to be something here_, he thought.

_**Echo Park  
October 30, 2010  
7:00 PM**_

Ellie was fortunate. Today was a much easier day. She had to go into the hospital for a few hours to check on some patients under her care. After that, it was simply a matter of waiting for Devon to finish implanting an emergency heart stent in a patient. They had the afternoon off, and they spent their time relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

Just like they did after Chuck and Sarah left last night.

Fortunately, Ellie was in a much calmer mood after they agreed to help Chuck and Sarah. To see Devon have reservations because he promised her to stay out of the spy game was touching, and it helped her talk to him about the problems she was having. He apologized for not thinking about her and made up for it. And kept making up for it until she couldn't take it anymore. In fact, last night might be able to tide her over through the remaining five months of her pregnancy.

Devon stood in the mirror and put his tuxedo jacket on. He bought a new one every year, regardless of how many times he wore the previous one. A little advice from his father, who worshipped at the 'clothes make the man' altar. He tried a few Bond-like poses in the mirror, only to stop in embarrassment when he heard Ellie laughing behind him.

"Honey, you're just going to a party, not stopping an evil agency from taking over the world," Ellie said with a smile.

Devon turned to her and returned her smile. "How do I look?"

She walked up to Devon and slid her arms around him. "Mmmm, I thought I was over my hormones last night, thanks mostly to you. But seeing you in that tuxedo is starting to churn them up again."

Devon gave her a loving kiss and then paused. "Wait a minute. What do you mean 'thanks MOSTLY to me'?"

Ellie giggled. "You caught that. Well, maybe after we get back tonight, we can work on getting rid of that 'mostly' word."

Devon grinned and kissed her. "Mmmm, got a little something for you for tonight. It's not exactly romantic, but I think you'll appreciate it."

Devon took her hand and led her to the kitchen. "I picked up a few items on the way home in preparation for your night in the van." He reached into a shopping bag on the kitchen table and pulled out a carafe. "Battery operated: contains the finest decaffeinated coffee available." Ellie smiled at his thoughtfulness as Devon went into the refrigerator and pulled out an insulated bag. "Some snacks to munch on. A couple of sliced apples, some celery and carrot sticks with ranch dip, and crackers and cheese."

Ellie smiled as she looked at the bag. "That's wonderful of you, hon." She looked in the bag and pulled out an item. She looked at Devon in curiosity.

"Emergency chocolate," Devon replied. "Godiva, your favorite. Use only in case of an emergency craving."

Ellie's smile was permanent as she put the insulated bag in the larger shopping bag with the carafe. She noticed another item in the bag. "Why is there a rolled-up newspaper in here?"

"Just in case Big John gets any ideas about leaving the van. Give him a good smack on the nose with it."

Ellie laughed. "I seriously hope it doesn't come to that. But thanks for arming me."

The doorbell rang, and Ellie went to answer it. Sarah stood wearing a stunning silver gown with her hair held in place by a set of sterling silver pins.

"Oh, I am completely jealous. You look beautiful!" Ellie exclaimed as she hugged Sarah.

"Ellie, come on," Sarah replied with a smile. "I loved that dress you wore at the party for the Generalissimo."

Ellie waved it off. "That was the best I could do. I felt like everybody was staring at my stomach."

"Believe me, Ellie. They weren't. They were staring at you. Are you sure you're up for tonight?"

Ellie nodded confidently. "After all of the work we put in to help John heal, you better believe I'm going to make sure he stays that way. Actually, Devon made me a little 'surveillance van survival kit'. He even made sure I was armed."

Sarah was concerned. "What do you mean by 'armed', exactly?"

Devon brought out the bag and showed Sarah the rolled-up newspaper. "For emergency use…on Casey."

Sarah laughed. "I hope you won't have to use it, but promise me if you do, you take a picture of it."

"Deal," Ellie replied.

Sarah handed Ellie a set of keys. "There's a car outside you'll use to drive to the Four Seasons. Morgan is already there preparing for his part of the mission, and Casey is driving the surveillance van over there as we speak. You'll meet with him in the employees' parking lot. A limousine will pick Devon and I up in a few minutes, and we will enter through the front door of the hotel."

"So, how will Casey be able to see anybody inside the hotel?" Ellie asked. "Are you wearing a special camera on you, or…"

Sarah smiled and tapped the pin attached to one of the shoulder straps on her dress. She then took a boutonnière out of her purse. "And this one is for Devon. Both cameras will transmit images to the computer in the surveillance van, which will automatically run the images through our facial recognition software. If we get any hits, Casey will know."

"And what happens if we do?" Devon asked as he put on the boutonnière.

"If that happens, I'll slip a bug on them so we can listen in and find out anything we can."

"Whoah, wait. It sounds like this could get dangerous. I mean, what if one of them pulls a gun or tries to capture us?"

Sarah shook her head. "It's a public place, so I seriously doubt they'd try to cause trouble and risk being arrested. It is likely the person we're looking for will simply set up a time and place to meet his contacts to make a deal. But we do have a code word to abort. Ellie, if someone says the name 'Vincent Price,' you'll get in the car you drove to the hotel and pick up Devon at the west entrance. The two of you then drive away. Do not…I repeat, do NOT…wait for Casey, Morgan, or me. Even attempting to help would blow the entire operation, and all of us would be in serious trouble, including Chuck. Remember, we're violating every rule in the book to help Casey, and we can't afford anybody finding out you were involved. Is that understood?"

Both Ellie and Devon nodded silently. Neither of them loved the concept of abandoning their friends, but Sarah was right.

"Understood, Sarah," Ellie replied. "But try not to get in trouble. I really can't handle the thought of abandoning you if anything happens."

She gave Ellie a reassuring smile. "I promise."

They walked to the door. Ellie went to the car Sarah obtained for her and drove away as the limousine pulled up to the apartment complex.

_**Four Seasons Hotel  
October 30, 2010  
8:15 PM**_

Sarah sat calmly in the back of the limousine on the way to the Four Seasons Hotel, and Devon had absolutely no clue how she could. He wondered how anybody could be so calm in a situation like this. They were going to do real life-and-death espionage work, and Sarah looked like she was headed to just another boring party.

Then again, had he not seen Sarah in action before, he never would have believed she was a government agent.

Having learned the hard way how tough it was to be a CIA operative, he had a newfound appreciation for what Chuck, Sarah, and Casey did. He still didn't know much about Sarah's and Casey's backgrounds, but obviously they went through a lot of training to be as talented as they were. He was actually a little jealous. He was a highly-respected cardiologist who was called upon to handle some of the toughest cases in the Los Angeles area. And yet the three of them had saved more lives in a single mission than he ever could in his life. And all anybody ever did for them was to send them on their next assignment.

"Are you OK?" Sarah asked him with some concern on her face.

He stared at her briefly before bringing his mind back to matters at hand. "Oh, yeah. I just feel a bit guilty about being so hesitant yesterday. I shouldn't have been so uncertain about helping you."

Sarah was surprised. "Why?"

"Well, everything you and John have done for the family, and then he needs help, and I feel stupid that…"

Sarah put her hand up. "Don't even worry about it, Devon. You've helped us quite a few times. There's nothing to feel guilty about. You and Ellie were dragged into this, just like Chuck was. And you did a great job when that agent captured you. You did a lot better than many of my first missions. I had to be bailed out of much easier situations when I first started than you did. And I trained with the CIA for years before they sent me out in the field.

"You shouldn't be concerned. You've been to parties like this before. Just pretend like you're at one of those. We walk around, and we have conversations with people. It'll be easy."

Devon nodded, although he still looked a bit nervous. "OK, I can do that."

"Good," Sarah replied as she handed Devon an earpiece and inserted another one in her ear. "Casey, can you hear us?"

"Loud and clear, Walker," Casey replied. "Is Devon with you?"

"I'm here, John. I'm all set," he replied.

"Not a knock against you, Devon, but this whole situation makes me uncomfortable. I'm not a big fan of staying out here while you have a rookie agent and a civilian inside, Walker. Don't expect me to stay in this van if things go south."

Sarah smiled. "Actually, I already thought of that. You WILL be staying in the van tonight."

The smug expression on Casey's face could be felt through the earpieces. "Oh? And how do you plan to do that?"

There was a knock on the surveillance van door, and the door opened. Casey immediately aimed his gun.

"Hi, John!" Ellie entered the van with a knowing smile. Casey reacted the way everybody expected: he was livid.

"This is not funny, Walker! We are in enough trouble already with one civilian here. We don't need a second!"

"Relax, Case," Sarah replied. "She has only one job tonight: to make sure you behave."

Casey scoffed. "You really think having Ellie in here will keep me in this van?"

He turned to Ellie, who had an expression on her face that scared Casey like no woman had since his mother. He was humbled in an instant.

"Fine, but you better not get in any trouble," he growled.

"We won't," Sarah triumphantly replied. She turned to Devon as the limousine pulled up to the hotel. "Are you ready?"

Devon looked far more confident than he did a few minutes ago. "Ellie did her job. Now it's time for me to do mine."

The door opened, and Sarah stepped out of the limousine. She put on her silver mask for the ball and handed a black mask to Devon, who also put it on. She looped her arm through his, and the two walked into the hotel.

The ballroom at the Four Seasons was packed with partygoers chatting amiably as an orchestra played in the background. The middle of the floor was set up for couples to dance. A bar was set up at each end of the ballroom, and there were tables lining the rest of the room for couples to sit and watch the festivities. Most of the men were either in tuxedoes or very expensive suits, and the dresses on the ladies ran the gamut from very conservative to festive to borderline gaudy. Everyone was wearing masks, although a few of the ladies went old-school and bought masks they would have to hold up to their faces.

"So, how does this work?" Devon quietly asked Sarah.

"We'll take one lap around the ballroom to see if we recognize anybody. Then we'll dance for a few songs. Since most dance floors are set up in the middle of the room, it's easy for two people to dance and keep an eye on everything without arousing suspicions. Actually, that's why they always use couples in these situations. It's easier to move around the room, and you don't have to worry about doing extra things like serving drinks."

"Yeah, that's my job tonight," Morgan replied, taking Devon by surprise, as he walked up to them and offered them a glass of champagne.

Sarah appraised Morgan. "You're doing that quite well. Have you been a server before?"

Morgan was hesitant. "Actually, uh, I had a little tutoring lesson earlier today on how to be a waiter."

"Tutoring lesson? What are you talking about?" Sarah thought for a second. "Wait, how much does Alex know about this?"

Morgan had the biggest expression of guilt on his face, which was saying quite a bit. "She…knows…a few things."

Morgan sheepishly gestured with his head. Sarah and Devon turned to see Alex in a server's uniform handing out champagne as well. Sarah turned and looked ready to kill Morgan.

"What is going on?" Casey boomed over their earpieces.

Sarah quickly fished into her purse for an earpiece. She handed it to Morgan and motioned for him to give it to Alex. He quickly walked over to her.

"We have a bit of a situation, Casey," Sarah cautiously started.

"What are you talking about?"

"Hi, Dad,' Alex replied over the earpiece Morgan gave her.

"What the hell is she doing there?" Casey was ready to explode.

"John, relax," Ellie told him in the van. "I'm sure there's an explanation for this."

"You're involving Chuck's family in this, and you're upset about me pretending to be a waitress?" Alex angrily replied.

Casey glared at Ellie. She shrugged. "I'm sure she'll get to it eventually."

"I want you to leave right now," Casey growled at Alex.

"I'm not going anywhere, Dad. If this is going to help you get rid of your Intersect, then I'm going to do whatever it takes to assist."

Casey exhaled in frustration. "I have never met anybody so stubborn in my life."

"I HAVE," everybody replied at the same time.

"You can protest all you want," Alex said to Casey in an unyielding voice. "But everybody here is doing this because they care about you. You mean that much to them. And you mean that much to me, too."

Casey looked down in silence. He never tried to make friends because he always knew he would have to leave them eventually. New assignments, new cover identities, the road he chose was the loneliest of roads. But he never expected to run into people like this. People who saw what he did for them and refused to let him keep his distance. They looked after him, and even risked their lives for him. Even that annoying nerd was caring for him right now from the basement of his childhood home. He was trying to figure out how to get the Intersect out of Casey's head.

He exhaled slowly. "Morgan, does Alex know who to look for?"

Morgan nodded gently, and only seeing his image on Devon's camera allowed Casey to get the answer. "Morgan, you have to actually tell me yes."

"Oh, sorry Case. Yes, she does."

"Fine, you two work together. But know this, and Devon and Ellie, this includes you. At the first sign of any trouble, you walk away. Do not try anything stupid. I don't care if Walker and I are tortured or held hostage. YOU. LEAVE. Clear?"

Devon and Alex gave their consent. "Agreed," Ellie quietly said in the van.

"Walker, do you have a spare camera with you?"

"Yes, I do. It's a buttonhole camera, just in case the boutonnière camera Devon had failed." She took it out of her purse and handed it to Alex. "Just keep serving drinks like you were. The camera feed will go directly to the computer in the van, and your father will keep watch for anybody suspicious. And like he said, if anybody says the abort word, you walk away."

Alex nodded. "Got it."

"OK, both of you fan out. Devon, let's go out on the dance floor."

Casey sat back in his chair and kept an eye on the four monitors. Ellie could see him relax as time went on. Every once in a while, he would freeze one of the images on the monitor and have the computer run the image through the facial recognition software. So far, the computer hadn't come up with any matches.

He looked over at Ellie. "You sure you're comfortable? If I knew they were going to pull this stunt on me, at least I could have…"

"I'm fine, John," Ellie replied. "Actually, I came prepared."

Casey gave her a quizzical look until Ellie showed him the carafe of coffee and the plastic bag with the apple slices.

Ellie grinned and held out the plastic bag. "Apple slice?"

Casey quietly grunted and took an apple slice. "Thanks. But you and Devon shouldn't have to do this. I would have kept the Intersect."

Ellie shook her head. "You were ordered to keep the Intersect. That's not right. The government can't just use you like that."

"They've been doing that my entire career. Why should now be any different?"

"It's different now because there's a lot more than just you in your life. You have a daughter, John. You made friends here. Friends you should rely on just as much as they rely on you."

He was quiet for a moment. "It wasn't supposed to happen that way. I was just supposed to keep an eye on Chuck. Work with him. I wasn't expecting…all of this."

Ellie smiled. "It's kind of a bad habit our family has. When we find someone we care about, we tend not to give them up that easily."

Casey nodded. "Sarah learned that lesson, too."

"That she did."

Casey glanced at the feed from Devon's camera. Suddenly he flashed on the tall man with the graying sideburns near the bar.

He turned the microphone on. "Walker, we have one of our potential buyers. Garrett Percival. Supplies terrorist groups in Europe, mostly. Over by the east bar. Tall guy, graying sideburns."

Sarah and Devon kept turning while they danced. Sarah spotted Percival by a group of men. "I see him, Casey. Does the computer have anything else on him?"

Casey hesitated. "Actually, uh…"

Sarah nodded. "You flashed on him, right?"

"Yeah," Casey grunted in frustration.

"That works for me, too," Sarah replied with a smile. She turned to Devon. "I have to plant a bug on him to see if he leads us to what we need."

Devon glanced over. "Whoah, hang on. What are you going to do to get close to him?"

Sarah gave him a look. "Devon, I've done this before. I just have to turn on the charm."

Devon looked Percival over. "That won't work. He has to be, what, 45 or 50? You're too young and way too attractive for him to just be able to walk up without it looking suspicious."

She raised an eyebrow. She wasn't expecting Devon to be forceful and compliment her at the same time. She could see why Ellie married him. "For someone who was afraid to do this at first, you suddenly want to run the show?"

Devon put his hand up. "I've had to glad-hand people before to raise money for the hospital. I can help you plant the bug. Just follow my lead."

Sarah eyed him warily as Devon walked over to the men. Devon plastered a huge smile on his face as he walked up to Percival.

"What a coincidence! I've been looking for you for two months. I just had to thank you personally for that big donation you made to the hospital."

Percival eyed him oddly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, don't be so modest, Mr. West. I saw that big million-dollar check you wrote for the new children's wing, and I just had to express my gratitude. The work we can do thanks to your generosity…"

"I am not Mr. West. You must have me mistaken with someone else."

Devon looked confused. "You're not Mr. West?" Devon stared for a moment. "Oh, I am very sorry, sir. But you bear quite a resemblance to one of our hospital's biggest benefactors."

Devon stuck out his hand. "I'm Dr. Marcus Kildare, and this is my wife, Carol."

Percival shook his hand. "Delighted." He then shook Sarah's hand.

"Oops, what do you have going on there?" Devon pointed at a spot on Percival's wrist.

"What?"

Devon took his hand as Sarah gently let go of it but kept her hand on Percival's shoulder. "I'm sure that spot is nothing, but you should get a biopsy performed on that just to be sure."

That got Percival's attention. His head snapped towards Devon. "Biopsy?"

Devon pulled Percival's wrist closer to him, which distracted him enough for Sarah to pin the bug on the inside of his coat.

"It's just a precaution. I'm sure this isn't anything significant, but it's always better to find it out early. I mean, you'd rather find out it's nothing now than something later, right?"

Percival nodded. "Yes, I'll talk to my doctor about it."

Devon nodded and shook his hand again. "Well, it was very nice to meet you. Enjoy your evening."

"Yes, uh, you too…Doctor," Percival nervously replied. Sarah and Devon walked away.

"How was that?" Devon asked.

Sarah smiled. "You sure you don't want to be an agent?"

"Nicely done, Devon," Ellie called from the van. Casey gave her an odd look. "Well, it worked, right?"

Casey grunted quietly and turned back to the monitors. Sarah and Devon continued to walk around the ball, attempting to locate more people who may be involved. Alex kept the occasional eye on Morgan to make sure he was not making any mistakes.

Casey heard a giggle from Ellie. He turned to her in surprise. Ellie quickly looked at the monitors and made a cut gesture across her throat.

Casey turned off the microphone. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry. It's just funny you seem to revel in being distant from everybody and then you've been doing that all night."

"Doing what?"

"You keep sneaking glances at my breasts."

"What? I haven't…" Ellie gave him a look indicating he shouldn't bother trying to deny it. He hung his head in shame. "I'm very sorry, Ellie. That is completely unprofessional of me."

Ellie smiled. "Actually, I would have been surprised if you never did it. You wouldn't believe the number of guys I've caught staring at my ass when I'm at the hospital. To say nothing about a couple of patients trying to grab it. And honestly, my hormones have been going crazy lately, so maybe I notice it more than I normally do. At least you're attractive enough and mature enough where I can consider it a compliment if you sneak a look."

Casey shook his head. "Won't happen again. I promise."

Ellie laughed. "I'd put more money on you giving up your scotch before you gave up on your libido. You must have a thing for brunettes, because Sarah told me she never saw you do that to her."

Casey stared at her in shock. "Yes, we talk about such things," Ellie replied. "Do I remind you of an old girlfriend?"

Casey was getting more and more uncomfortable. "It's nothing."

Ellie continued to stare with amusement at the ever-reddening Casey. "A childhood crush, John?" He didn't answer; the increasing shades of red on his face told Ellie everything she needed to know. "Oh, this is fun! Let me see if I can figure this out."

"Ellie, come on," Casey replied despairingly, but Ellie was enjoying it too much.

"Let's see, you're in your mid-40's, right? So you would have been born sometime in the mid 1960's…maybe a teacher you had in 6th or 7th grade…you're not getting redder, so that can't be it. Maybe someone on TV…" Casey's embarrassment went off the scales.

Ellie beamed. "Lynda Carter! You're first childhood crush was on Wonder Woman! Come on, John. Try to deny it."

"OK, I deny it," Casey growled, attempting to regain his composure.

"Uh-uh. It makes sense. I've been told many times that's who I look like. Apart from having brown eyes instead of blue, of course." Ellie did some quick math in her head, and her eyes widened. "Wait a minute. She wasn't the first woman…you…"

Casey buried his head in his hands. Of the secrets in his past, this was the worst one of all.

"Oh, I think I can keep you out of the field for much longer now when you get hurt," Ellie said with a devilish grin. "Maybe even get you to give up your cigars."

Casey quietly growled as he looked back at his monitor. He suddenly lunged for the microphone. "Grimes, exit now."

"What's going on?" Ellie asked as her joyous mood turned serious.

Casey tapped the monitor showing the feed from Alex's camera. "That guy was at the warehouse where I got Intersected. If he sees Morgan, it could blow all our covers."

Morgan quickly darted around to look for the exit. As he turned, he lost control of his serving tray, and the glasses on top of it fell to the floor and shattered. Everybody turned in his direction, including the man Casey spotted. Morgan couldn't decide between running and picking up the tray and broken glasses. The man started moving towards him.

"Morgan, get going," Sarah said. "Alex, get out of here, too."

"Wait," Alex said. "How does Morgan get away from that guy?"

"I'll take care of that. Ellie, pull the car up like we discussed." Sarah pulled Devon towards the kitchen door that was Morgan's destination. "Remember, no heroics, Devon. You leave. Now."

Devon glanced behind him. "I think someone is following us, Sarah."

"What?" Sarah carefully glanced behind her. "Dammit, two more of them. Seeing Morgan must have spooked their entire team. OK, head out the main entrance and circle around outside to meet with Ellie. I'll get them to follow me, then lose them and find Morgan."

"Won't that blow your cover and get you in trouble?"

"We don't have a choice now," Sarah replied.

Outside, Casey started to move to the door. Ellie blocked his path.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Ellie, now is not the time to enforce your rules."

"John, you can barely stand on your feet, much less chase anybody down. I'm coming with you."

Casey was getting upset. "We're already risking two civilians here. I refuse to make you the third one!"

Ellie glanced at the monitors. "I've got an idea. Morgan, you know where the surveillance van is? There's a blue Crown Victoria right next to it. The keys will be under the driver's seat. You and Alex get to it. Sarah and Devon, walk out the front door like you don't know you have a tail."

Casey looked at her in surprise. "What are you going to do?"

Ellie turned to Casey. "Not me. Us." She looked behind Casey. "Bring those with you."

Casey turned to see the items Ellie wanted him to grab. His eyes widened. Apparently, Chuck wasn't the only Bartowski who could surprise you.


	4. What We Deserve in Life

_Hello. Hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And right now, a lot of you are depressed since we won't see a new Chuck episode for seven weeks. Yeah, I know. I'm completely bummed out. But remember, Chuck got two more episodes this year than anybody hoped, and NBC kept it in the same timeslot, so it likely isn't panicking much about Chuck's future. I would love to see a fifth season out of this show._

_In the meantime, make sure you peruse many of these Chuck fanfic stories. There are a lot of great ones out there. And there will even be a contest around Christmas time where you have to guess what author penned a particular story. This year, I'll be participating in the WHO ARE YOU Challenge, so see if you can spot the story I write._

___This particular chapter gets a bit angsty. Actually, it probably beats my most angst-like chapter, from the second Forrest and Slade story, by a mile. And it's between two people you wouldn't expect, but perhaps you should, given what they talk about._

_Please enjoy the new chapter and leave reviews. And remember, we're not even halfway through the fourth season of Chuck yet. We have a LONG way to go!_

_**

* * *

Four Seasons Hotel  
October 30, 2010  
10:30 PM**_

The two men following Morgan ran into the kitchen and quickly looked around. They started to make their way to the back entrance when they saw the frazzled woman standing there.

"Did you see a short, bearded man run through here?" one of them asked in a menacing voice.

"The son of a bitch knocked me over!" the woman replied while she shook. "He went out the back exit. He's crazy!"

The two men made their way through the kitchen and to the back exit. The woman watched them depart and then opened the freezer door behind her.

"Are you OK?" she asked the person inside the freezer.

The person leaped out, interrupting his shivering long enough to put his hands on the face of the woman and kiss her.

"Mmm, Morgan! Cold hands." Alex said as she jumped back slightly from the contact.

"Oh. Sorry, sweetie. It's just…you did a great job. I owe you big time," Morgan told her with a bit of adrenaline running through him.

"Damn right you owe me," she replied.

"I know, I know. Flowers, do your laundry while you're studying…"

"For starters," she replied as she grabbed Morgan. The two walked back to the entrance for the ballroom. Morgan quickly peered outside to see if he recognized anybody from the warehouse, but he saw nobody. Alex and he carefully walked out of the ballroom to the main entrance.

Ellie hung on to Casey to make it easier for him to walk across the parking lot and around the front of the building. She led him to an alcove thirty feet away from the main entrance of the hotel.

Casey took a look around. "Good thinking. Full view of the sidewalk. How did you know about this?"

Ellie pointed at the myriad of cigarette butts on the ground. "The valets take their cigarette breaks here, and I had to wait nearby once to get our car while Devon finished thanking donors at a charity function. It wasn't one of my more pleasant nights."

Casey moved to a spot that gave him the best view of the sidewalk, and Ellie stood to his left out of sight. "Walker, Devon…just keep walking east towards the main parking lot and pretend you don't know anything."

"Got it," Sarah whispered. "Two of them, 6', both stocky in build with military haircuts."

Devon and Sarah walked down the pathway towards the parking lot. Casey could see the two men following twenty feet behind them.

"Dammit," Casey said. "One of them was at the warehouse. He might recognize me before I can get a clean shot."

Ellie leaned out and glanced at what Casey was seeing. Her eyes suddenly widened. "John, when I tell you to, tuck your arms in front of you. And Devon, I'm very sorry to do this."

"What?" both of them replied.

"Now," Ellie commanded. Casey moved his arms inward, and Ellie turned and leaped into his arms, straddling him around his waist. She kissed Casey hard to obscure his face from the men tailing Sarah and Devon. He looked in wide-eyed shock at his wife, but Sarah caught on and gently pulled Devon forward.

Casey counted to three in his head. "Now, Ellie," he breathed in the middle of their kiss. Ellie moved her head to the side and pulled back a bit from Casey. Casey pulled his arms out and aimed both tranq guns. He fired, and both men fell. Ellie quickly got off of him and went to the two men as Devon and Sarah turned around.

"How did you know these were tranq guns?" Casey asked Ellie as he quickly looked around to make sure there were no witnesses.

She shrugged. "I didn't. I thought they were real guns and maybe you'd just shoot them in the foot or something."

Casey quietly grunted. "That'll be the day."

"Will they be OK?"

"Unfortunately, yes. They're just knocked out. By the time they wake up, they'll be in an NSA holding cell."

Devon started to help Casey pull the bodies out of sight. He looked at Ellie. "Uh, babe? Was it, uh, really necessary to…"

Ellie glared at him. "Devon, if you want me to explain that, then you'll have to explain why Allison Kearns was straddling you in a bra and panties at that end-of-semester party after our second-year finals."

Sarah and Casey never saw Devon backpedal so quickly. "She was drunk, and…you know, it worked. Nicely done, Ellie."

Casey spotted Morgan and Alex walking up. "Grimes, help me hide these bodies. Walker, get these three out of here, fast. I have to call this in, and I don't want them within ten miles of here."

"Right," Sarah quickly replied as she pulled Ellie and Devon towards the employees' parking lot. Alex followed close behind.

Casey went to a storage door and picked the padlock sealing it as Morgan pulled the first body to him.

"Case, what was Ellie talking about? Did Devon cheat on her or something? Cause if he did, man…"

"Just some med school hijinks, Grimes." He grabbed the man Morgan dragged to him and pulled him into the storage closet. "To keep me from being recognized by this guy, Ellie kissed me."

Morgan stopped in shock, dropping the other body he was dragging in the process. "You two kissed?"

Casey waved it off. "Happens sometimes. I've had to pretend to be a boyfriend once or twice on the job. I gotta give Ellie credit: I didn't think she had it in her to go that far to help us."

"But, dude, that was, like, every childhood fantasy I ever had! Well, first Ellie emerged from the pool, told me I was cute, then started taking off her red bikini, but…"

"Knock it off, Grimes," Casey growled in disgust.

Sarah walked carefully to the employees' parking lot with Ellie, Devon, and Alex close behind. She peered ahead to see if the coast was clear.

"Ellie, do you still have the car keys?" Sarah quickly asked her.

Ellie pulled them out. "Right here."

"OK, the three of you get going. I'll help Casey and Morgan."

"But Sarah…" Devon began.

"No arguments, Devon. We're not risking you any further. Now go!"

Ellie, Devon, and Alex started towards the car. The two men who chased Morgan into the kitchen emerged out the back of the hotel. One of them immediately pulled his gun.

"Halt!" He aimed his gun at Ellie, Devon, and Alex while keeping a wary eye on Sarah. The three slowly turned back towards the two men. Alex stepped gingerly towards the man, and Devon moved forward as well, keeping himself between Ellie and the man with the gun.

"Let them go," Sarah said in a commanding voice. "You're looking for me, not them."

The man with the gun gave a derisive laugh. "Let your partner go? The man who was dancing with you the whole night?"

"And this one lied to us about the bearded man," the second man said as he pointed at Alex.

The man with the gun kept it aimed at Sarah as the second man gestured for Ellie, Devon, and Alex to move next to her. Alex glanced over at Ellie and quietly caught her attention. She glanced down at Ellie's stomach. Ellie caught the hint and doubled over in pain, screaming out in the process.

That got the attention of the two men, who stepped forward to see what was going on. Alex pulled something out of her pocket out of their view.

"I told you, they know nothing about this. Why would a pregnant woman be trying to spy on you?" Sarah said in an almost pleading fashion as she moved closer to Ellie and Devon.

"Shut up," the man replied. He then turned to Devon. "You, move away from her."

Devon stepped forward but refused to let go of Ellie's hand. "Not happening, pal. You want me to step away from my wife while she's in pain, you'll have to shoot me first."

Sarah looked over at Alex, who moved two steps closer to them, and saw what was in her right hand. She gave the slightest of nods to Alex. The man with the gun lowered it slightly so it was aimed towards the ground.

"Go!" Sarah shouted as she dove at Ellie and Devon. Alex threw her right hand back to extend the telescopic baton in it. She windmilled it and brought it down on the man's wrist. The gun fell to the ground as Ellie fell against Devon onto the pavement. Sarah bounced up and landed a punch at the man as Alex brought the baton up and smashed it on the face of the second man. The first man swung at Sarah, who ducked and sent her heel into the back of the man. He fell to the ground. He tried to dive for the gun, but Devon dove first and threw it further away. The man jumped on Devon and landed a hard cross to his face. He stood up and turned just in time to receive a solid jab from Sarah. The second man tried to charge them, but Alex swung the baton and nailed the man in the groin. He doubled over in pain, and Alex took him out with a hard swing of the baton to his head. The first man went after Sarah, and she countered with an elbow to his chin and a final right cross to put him down.

Casey came around to the back of the van with Morgan's help. He saw a third man reach for the gun that Devon tossed away out of sight of everybody else. He spotted something on the ground at the back of the van and had a flash. Various physics equations and instructions from track and field went through his head.

He reached down and grabbed Ellie's carafe of coffee. He spun on his good leg and flung it by the handle. The carafe nailed the last man in the head before he could get a shot off. The man fell unconscious to the ground.

The noise made everybody turn around. The stared at the man on the ground with the carafe of coffee next to him, complete surprised they never saw him. Sarah then turned to Casey.

"Don't say it…" she warned.

"Damn good coffee," he replied with a smirk.

Sarah shook her head and quietly growled. Morgan stepped forward to the group.

"Well, you should look on the bright side, Sarah. At least he didn't say 'good to the last drop'."

Sarah looked at Morgan in disgust before checking on Ellie and Devon. Devon helped his wife up as Morgan checked to see if Alex was OK. He saw the telescopic baton.

"Where did you get that?" he asked Alex.

She shrugged. "Birthday present from Dad." Morgan stared at her. "I have night classes twice a week at USC."

Casey growled as he limped forward to handcuff the men on the ground.

_**Echo Park  
October 31, 2010  
1:00 AM**_

Ellie and Devon sat quietly in their apartment. Alex sat on a chair across from them sipping a glass of water. All three were a bit subdued from the evening's events. They weren't sure if they were more concerned about their lives being in danger or how Sarah and Casey would react when they returned.

"Is that how missions usually go?" Ellie asked nobody in particular.

Devon shook his head. "Chuck told me that happens sometimes. A lot more than they'd like. But we got out of it, right?"

"Barely," Ellie replied. She looked over at Alex. "Did you get martial arts lessons on how to use that club?"

"Second-team all-city in softball junior and senior years in high school," Alex replied with a smile. "I took a few golf lessons over the summer, too."

Ellie let out a slow breath and smiled. "No wonder Morgan practically worships the ground you walk on."

There was a knock on the door, and Devon went to answer it. He let Sarah and Casey in.

"Did everything work out?" Devon asked timidly, but the look on Casey's face gave the answer.

"Grimes took the van back to the NSA," Casey replied with a growing anger. "We told them Chuck was with him while we processed the men we captured. I think they bought it."

Devon let out a sigh of relief. "So, we're all good. No harm , no foul."

"No, we are not good, Devon," Casey rebuked. "This was the most idiotic thing we could have done. We brought three civilians with us on a mission for our own personal reasons. We broke every rule in the book and the mission failed as a result!"

Devon's voice rose as well. "Hey, we volunteered…"

Sarah put a hand on both Casey and Devon to calm them down. "Look, it's our fault more than anything. We underestimated what they'd do at the party. We should have come up with a better plan. I could have called in a few favors and found someone to be my date at the party. We should have thought this through first."

"Sarah, we wanted to help you," Ellie replied. It wasn't fair what that general asked of John. And after everything both of you have done for us in the last four years, how could we turn our backs on you when you needed someone?"

Sarah looked down at the ground and nodded. "I know, Ellie. But it's more than that. You've been a friend to us for those four years, and I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to any of you. This has been more than just an assignment for me for a long, long time."

"OK, the important thing is, we got out of there," Alex interjected. "What's the next step? Can we go after this Percival guy?"

Casey turned to his daughter with a hardened glance. "No, there is no next step. This is done. You three go back to what you were doing, and Chuck comes with us on the next assignment."

"What about your Intersect?" she warily asked her father.

"Forget about it. It stays where it is. I'm not going through a night like this again and risk the lives of civilians just because of some little inconvenience."

Even Sarah looked at Casey in shock. "An inconvenience? That 'inconvenience,' as you call it, was the reason you were sent to Burbank in the first place! You didn't ask for it, and you said you don't want it. What is wrong with us trying to help you get rid of it?"

"Because Chuck has a job to do, just like you and me. And his job is not to do me a personal favor. He's an agent now, and he should be doing the job he was trained for. We still have a Russian terrorist to catch. And what I want is irrelevant."

Casey turned and exited the apartment, slamming the door in the process. Sarah, Ellie, and Devon stared at the door in surprise, but Alex's anger boiled over. She bolted for the door and walked out, slamming the door as hard as her father did.

Devon let out a low whistle. "They're father and daughter, alright."

Alex stormed across the courtyard to Casey's apartment. She threw open the door, hitting her father in the head as he was trying to lock it.

"Aaagh!" Casey bellowed out from the door hitting him in the forehead. He was about to attack when he realized it was Alex. "What?"

"Where the hell do you get off yelling at everybody like that? They tried to help you tonight. And you don't even have the common decency to thank them for what they did?"

"They never should have done it in the first place. I didn't ask them to do this. I didn't tell Devon to pose as Sarah's date or have Ellie sit with me in the van. And you sure as hell should have never been there tonight."

"Hey, none of us were forced into this. We all went willingly, even though we knew there was risk. And do you know why? Because we care about what happens to you!"

"It was the wrong thing to do, Alex. None of you are trained in being agents; none of you know how to defend yourselves in the face of actual danger. Walker, Bartowski, and I trained for these situations. Everybody's life was put at risk because all of you did something stupid."

If Alex still had the telescoping baton, she would have used it on her father for what he just said. "That something stupid was trying to help you! OK, I don't know everything there is to know about this Intersect thing, but you already said to everybody you didn't want it. You spent your entire life helping other people, but you ridicule us for deciding to help you?"

"Look, General Beckman ordered the Intersect to stay in. Chuck gave me that watch thing he has to keep it from overwhelming me. The Intersect isn't going to hurt me. What I want or need doesn't matter. The job is more important than that."

Alex felt the blood drain from her face. "So your life is only about being an agent. That's just convenient for you, isn't it? It's all about the job. Well, guess what? I grew up without a father because of the job. I spent twenty years thinking my father was dead because of your so-called job!"

Casey halted and stared at Alex, knowing he just said the worst thing he could to her. "Alex, that's not…"

"No! You don't get to take that back! Do you know what you put Mom and me through? She used to tell me stories about you, and she would break down crying every time she tried to talk about you! She told me she cried herself to sleep every single night for FIVE YEARS after you left! And to find out now you hurt her like that just so you could keep your stupid job?"

The life drained from Casey. "Alex…" he quietly muttered in shame.

Alex was in tears. "And these people here…Ellie, Devon, Morgan, Chuck, and Sarah…they'd do anything for you because you protected them and kept them safe. And when you need help, the first thing you do is push them away and hide behind your goddamn job again?"

Alex hung her head and turned back to the door. She put her hand on the door handle and paused. She wiped a few tears away.

"I spent my whole life thinking my father was some great hero who died for his country. But the truth is, you're just some asshole who didn't give a damn who he hurt."

She pulled the door open and quietly walked out. Casey stood there in stunned silence.

_**Echo Park  
October 31, 2010  
2:15 AM**_

Morgan quietly opened the door to Chuck and Sarah's apartment and slowly entered. He took great care to not make any noise.

Not for the first time, he forgot with whom he was roommates.

"Drop it," Sarah replied with her Sig Sauer P-226 aimed directly at Morgan's head.

"Uh, I only have keys in my hands, Sarah," Morgan replied through chattering teeth. "And as much as I love talking with you…and greatly appreciate you wearing something that doesn't belong on a runway to bed for once…I might need a change of underwear before we continue."

Sarah flipped on the lights and angrily lowered her gun when she saw who it was. "Why are you coming home so late? Have you seen Chuck?"

"He's not here?"

Sarah shook her head. "He must still be at his father's house. But that still doesn't explain why you're back so late. You were only supposed to drop off the van at Castle."

"Well, I…I did. But given how things went tonight, I was a bit curious to see if the bug worked."

"Did it?"

Morgan looked at the ground. "He didn't talk to anybody. But at least we know what hotel he's staying at. The bug has a GPS tracker planted in it."

Sarah paused for a minute. "That might help. Based on what happened, it wouldn't surprise me if Grishenko waited until things settled down before talking to Percival. Perhaps we can get into his hotel tomorrow and hack his mobile phone and computer. I'll talk to Chuck about doing that."

"Whoah, wait. What about that all-nighter he was pulling to help Casey with the Intersect?"

Sarah's expression quickly turned to anger. "Casey told everybody in his own charming, inimitable way that he was going to keep the Intersect and we should quit bugging him about it. Apparently tonight was enough of a disaster for him to decide that."

"So, we did all of that for nothing?"

"Not for nothing, Morgan. We still have a lead, even if it's a slim one. But I can't believe Casey reacted the way he did. It was almost like he was blaming us for having the damn thing. Alex was furious at him for doing it."

Morgan paused. "Wait, he chewed out Alex, his own daughter, too? No wonder it kept going into voicemail every time I called her tonight."

Sarah folded her arms across her chest in frustration. "She did not take it well. We could hear her screaming at him all the way across the courtyard." Sarah paused and gave a little laugh. "She is so like her father, it's scary."

"So, what…what do we do now?"

"I'm going to go get Chuck. Why don't you get some rest. I get the feeling Alex will need someone to listen to her in the morning."

"OK, Sarah. If you need anything, let me know."

"I will. And thanks, Morgan."

Morgan looked down at the ground. "Somehow, I don't think I deserve it, especially after spilling those glasses earlier."

Sarah looked at him for a moment and smiled. "During the second official mission I was ever on, I spilled a hot cup of coffee in my mark's lap. I messed up two months of undercover work as a result."

"Ouch!" Morgan moaned as his hands instinctively went to cover his groin. "I bet he was upset."

Sarah laughed. "I couldn't seduce my way out of that one."

Morgan headed for his bedroom. Sarah gave him a quick hug as she exited the apartment and headed for her Porsche.

_**Encino, CA  
October 31, 2010  
3:00 AM**_

Sarah took a look around at the house. It looked like any house you would see in the neighborhood. However, she knew what was underneath it. It boggled her mind to this day how far-reaching the Intersect project had become. The project had been going on since the 1980s and split up a family. Chuck's father became obsessed with perfecting it, and his mother turned out to be a CIA agent, unbeknownst to any of them. And now the possibility existed his mother was really a traitor. It was all a bit hard to comprehend, but it didn't change her mission from what it was four years ago. She would protect the Intersect. It just so happened she was also protecting her best friend, her lover, and the man she wanted to be with for the rest of her life. The mission may have become more than she bargained for, but it also gave her more than she could have imagined.

She slowly entered the house. The secret door to the basement was still open, and she descended the stairs. She looked down the long hallway to see Chuck barely keeping his eyes open while he typed away at his laptop. Various diskettes that hadn't been in use since she was in elementary school were strewn all around. There were also sheets of paper on the desk. Some had notes on them, and some were balled up into trash.

She approached Chuck, who kept drifting between sleep and work. She gently laid her hands on his shoulders, and he jumped in fright.

"What? Who the?" he asked in wide-eyed terror.

Sarah gripped his shoulders tightly and massaged them to calm him down. "It's me, sweetie," she whispered gently into his ear before giving him a kiss.

"Oh…oh, sorry, Sarah."

"Are you OK?"

Chuck exhaled in frustration. "I've been looking over this stuff for the last…I don't know how many hours. I tried a few things, but…"

Sarah gently pulled him from the desk and turned his chair so she could sit in his lap. "You're not in college, Chuck. You're not studying for an Electrical Engineering final exam. You have to pace yourself. I know you want to help Casey, but I don't want you driving yourself crazy in the process."

Chuck looked down at the ground while Sarah gave him gentle kisses along his cheek. "You're right. It's just…I really want to help Casey. He didn't ask to be an Intersect. He doesn't deserve to go through this."

Sarah pulled his face back up and gently caressed his cheeks. "Hopefully we can convince him to go through with it. Tonight didn't go as planned at the ball, and he thinks trying to get rid of the Intersect was the reason."

Chuck stared at her momentarily. "He DOESN'T want it out now?"

Sarah shook her head. "That's what he told us. But none of us are going to listen to that. Especially Alex. She didn't take it very well when John blew up at everybody following the mission."

"Oh, he is going to go through with this. I don't care if we have to tranq his ass and pull a _Clockwork Orange_ on him. He wants the damn thing out, and we're going to get it out.'

Sarah grinned. "I got dibs on shooting him with the tranq gun." Chuck laughed at that.

Sarah gave him a long kiss. "Why don't you come home and get some sleep, baby."

"Mmmm, I should, but I just get going on projects like these, and I can't stop. Can I keep working on this?"

"It's just that we have to follow a lead from tonight, and I need my best partner with me," Sarah replied as she gave him another kiss. "We identified one of the buyers, and I have to go in and bug his phone and laptop tomorrow."

Chuck shrugged. "That's easy to do. Morgan knows how to do that. Of course, you always like me on missions because…"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "That's why I wanted you there. But if this will help Casey, then I can do without a little lovin' from Chuck for a while longer."

"Thanks, sweetie.'

Sarah turned and straddled Chuck, kissing him hard as she slid her hand down his body. "But not much longer, baby."

She got up and walked upstairs. Chuck quietly growled.

"I hate when she does that. Totally lost my concentration," he muttered.

_**Echo Park  
October 31, 2010  
10:30 AM**_

Morgan rolled back and forth in his bed. He felt someone shake him.

"Dammit, Ma! I've got my headgear on…"

He looked up to see Sarah looking down at him with a bit of a smile.

"OK this is weird," Morgan said while still half-asleep. "I was in the middle of this threesome with…"

Sarah's smile disappeared in a New York minute. "The next words out of your mouth better be Alex and Alex's clone."

Morgan's eyes snapped open. He was fully awake now. "Uh, yeah. That's who it was with. It was a romantic evening." He shook his head. "Why are you waking me?"

Sarah shrugged. "You said you'd help me if I needed anything." Sarah dropped Morgan's bag on top of him. "Get dressed. We have an assignment. There's a pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen."

Morgan yawned. "Are you sure I can't finish my dream first? I mean the clone Alex was about to…"

"No," Sarah firmly replied as she left Morgan's bedroom.

Morgan angrily kicked off the covers and got out of bed. "She probably still thinks I'm a loser," he quietly muttered to himself.

"I heard that," she called from the kitchen. Morgan stared in shock.

_**Encino, CA  
October 31, 2010  
11:00 AM**_

Casey knocked on the door to Chuck's childhood home. Unlike Sarah, he thought he needed to knock first. Chuck answered the door and wasn't sure if what he was seeing was really happening or if he was sleep-deprived.

He never saw Casey look so downcast and humble in his life. It was scary.

"Every…thing OK, Case?" Chuck started carefully.

"Yeah. Fine, Chuck," Casey replied in a voice barely above a whisper. Chuck pushed the door further open to let Casey in.

"I'm working on an idea regarding the images, and I think I might be on to something. But it'll take a bit of time. Is that OK? Can you wait?"

"Uh, sure. No problem." Casey couldn't have been less enthusiastic if Beckman ordered him to guard Jeff and Lester.

"What's going on?" Chuck asked in a voice that sounded more like vintage Casey than Casey currently did.

Casey looked up with a bit of surprise to hear Chuck so forceful. "Things…didn't work out last night."

Chuck settled on the lone couch in the living room as Casey sat on a folding chair. "Sarah was telling me about it."

Casey exhaled. "I've done some terrible, terrible things in my life. I've bombed cities; I've had to eliminate civilians who never did anything wrong in their lives. And still, I had to have Alex tell me the worst thing I ever did because I was too goddamn stupid to figure it out for myself."

"What?" Chuck replied in almost a whisper.

"I let a woman and her daughter believe their father was dead just so I could keep my job. I was…I was upset about being sent home after my first tour, I would have done anything to stay in the Army. And what I had to do was kowtow to that son of a bitch Keller. All that brought me was a life away from Kathleen and the daughter I never knew I had. And now…"

Casey looked off into space for what felt like an eternity. "She was mad last night because I didn't want you to help me. I don't know. Maybe it's not a matter of what I want. Maybe it's a matter of what I deserve. I chose this life, didn't I? I chose to be an agent. I ruined my life and damaged theirs. Maybe I should just accept that unpleasant fact. Maybe I'm not supposed to have anyone help me because I'm beyond redemption."

Chuck looked at him for a long moment. He never heard Casey talk like this before. It was obvious Casey wasn't used to his life having consequences that extended beyond him. But they did.

Chuck's voice was quiet. "I…was mad at my father for the longest time. I thought he left us; that we did something to drive him away. Then he came back into my life, and I resented it. But I discovered there was more to him than we ever thought. And I wish I had more time to know him, but I think we did a lot to become close again.

"I can't say whether Alex should forgive you or not. That's her decision, and you have to live with it if she doesn't. But none of us think you're beyond redemption because you always did a lot more than make sure we didn't get killed or captured. Sarah would have been reassigned had it not been for you, you helped restore Ellie's wedding, and you helped me stop Daniel Shaw even when you weren't with the NSA. We don't feel like it's our obligation to help you. We want to help you. Maybe you can learn to accept that. You've had to do horrible things, sure. But it doesn't automatically mean you're a horrible person. You did what you did for a reason. You have things to fix, sure. Especially with Alex. But the good you've done outweighs the bad."

Casey slowly stood up. He looked at Chuck for a moment and slowly nodded. "You're right. I don't know if Alex will ever forgive me. But maybe trying to get the Intersect out is a step in the right direction." He gave the slightest of smiles. "Thanks, Chuck."

Chuck grinned and started to put his arms around Casey. "Hey, no problem big guy…"

"Don't even think about it," Casey growled.

"…and, he's back," Chuck answered in disappointment.

Casey exited the house while Chuck returned to the computer.

_**W Hotel, West Los Angeles  
October 31, 2010  
12:30 PM**_

Sarah and Morgan quickly walked down the hall on the seventeenth floor of the W Hotel, making their way to Percival's room. Sarah brandished her Glock G26 pistol, keeping it against her hip so it wasn't noticed as Morgan carried his bag filled with Castle's inventory of portable computer equipment.

"Man, this is cool. This is like what you see them do in the movies…"

"Shhh!" Sarah hissed at him. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"I know, I know, the bullets are real here," Morgan replied in a humbling voice. "Sorry, it's just…well, think if you had that Orange Orange job for real, and you weren't a spy. How cool would this look to you?"

"Just get the door open," Sarah replied in annoyance.

As Morgan readied a handheld device connected to a keycard, Sarah had to admit Morgan's enthusiasm for the job, annoying as it could be, was also a bit refreshing. Most agents have the same attitude Morgan does when they start, and Morgan hadn't reached the point where the job would serve him a heavy dose of reality. It was the point where most agents would wash out, since all the training in the world won't help you when you are captured, are put in grave danger, or be forced to end someone's life. She actually envied Morgan for not having experienced that so far. On the plus side, Morgan was far more likely to listen to what she said now that he was on the team. He understood the pecking order better than anybody.

"Got it," Morgan replied as the electronic card unlocked Percival's hotel room. Sarah and Morgan entered quickly. Morgan handed Sarah one bug for Percival's mobile phone, which would transmit the phone's ESN to Castle. Morgan took another small electronic device and fastened it to the USB port of Percival's computer. Anybody short of a Nerd Herd associate…and maybe not even them, given who worked at the Buy More…would notice anything was amiss.

"Is the laptop ready, Morgan?"

"All set, boss," Morgan replied with the enthusiasm of a sixth-grader winning his school's science fair.

Both of them turned when they heard the noise at the door. Sarah looked around quickly and grabbed her bag. She pulled a blouse out of the bag and took off her shirt to Morgan's shock. She quickly buttoned the lower half of it and shoved Morgan towards the closet.

"Not a word," Sarah whispered to him, even though Morgan was still in a state of shock from Sarah's impromptu striptease.

Sarah quickly grabbed a glass from the bar and lay down on the bed. She put a wanton expression on her face as the door opened. Percival was shocked to see her at first, but his shock was quickly replaced by a enthusiastic smile.

"Mrs., uh,"

"Kildare," Sarah replied in a throaty voice. "Call me Carol."

"How…exactly…did you get in here?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Oh, just had to…convince…one of the waiters to let me in. Gave him a little room service of my own, so to speak."

"But what are you doing here?"

Sarah sauntered over to Percival, swaying her hips in the process. Her eyes were fixed on his, but his eyes were fixed on a spot further south than Sarah's eyes. "I hope you don't mind me being so forward, but I noticed you couldn't take your eyes off of me last night at the ball. Very impressive. My so-called dream husband doesn't even give me the time of day anymore."

"Really?"

Sarah gave a dismissive wave of her hand to sell the story. "Married to his job. Or maybe he's going to do some 'casework' with that redhead E.R. nurse who's always staring at his ass."

Percival shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know what his problem is, but a team of horses couldn't drag me out of bed if you were lying next to me."

Sarah gave him a smile. _Got him_, she thought. "Well, I might be willing to test that theory," she purred while playing with the buttons on his shirt and fixing him with her best 'come hither' expression.

Percival looked like he won the lottery and was credited for curing cancer in the same day. "Well, I certainly have some time today."

Sarah looked at the glass she stole. "Oops, I do apologize for helping myself to your bar. I just needed a little shot of confidence. Can I make you one?"

Percival began to loosen his tie. "Bourbon would be fine," he said.

Sarah sashayed over to the bar and pulled out a glass, pouring a few ounces of bourbon in it. She brought it over to Percival, who downed it in one shot.

Percival stood inches away from Sarah. His fingers sampled the fabric of her blouse and unbuttoned the next button on it. "So, is there anything you want in particular?" he asked in a low, smooth voice.

"Mmmm, I want to…"

Percival's eyes glazed over, and he fell forward towards Sarah. She sidestepped him and pushed gently to make sure he fell on the bed.

"…try this blouse out on Chuck and see what he thinks of it."

She pulled a pair of panties out of her bag and deposited them on the floor. She quickly went to the bar, emptied half of the bourbon bottle into the sink and left the bottle open on the bar. She then went to the closet to let Morgan out. He stared at Percival passed out on the bed in shock.

"What? Is he…"

Sarah shook her head. "Morgan, what good would it do us to bug his phone and laptop if I was going to kill him? He's just knocked out. Help me move him onto the bed."

Morgan grabbed Percival's shoulders and pulled him up on the bed as Sarah removed his shoes, socks, and pants. Morgan looked confused until he figured it out. He took off Percival's jacket and shirt.

"But won't he know he got drugged?"

"The medication I used dissolves out of the system within six hours. He'll wake up thinking he drank too much and had too much fun."

"Wait, does Chuck know you've done stuff like this? I mean, since you two have been, you know, actually..."

"Let's just play it safe and make this our little secret, OK?"

"Aww, man! That was so cool, what you did! You're not gonna let me tell Chuck you were Ultra-Cool Spy Girl today?"

Sarah fixed him with a hardened glance. "You wouldn't want Alex to find out you dreamed about a threesome with me and Ellie, would you?"

Morgan was shocked. "I never did that!"

Sarah shot him a look. "That's not the story she'll hear."

Morgan gave a growl good enough to make Sarah wonder if he was taking lessons from Casey. "OK, fine. But just so you know, it's totally uncool to do really cool things and not let anybody talk about them!"

Sarah shrugged. "That's why it's called being a SECRET agent."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Morgan said with considerable disappointment as they headed for the door.

_**City of Industry, CA  
November 4, 2010  
10:00 AM**_

Chuck and Casey made their way to the Intersect room in the warehouse of Parker, Devereaux, and Associates. The warehouse had been under guard since they made the discovery over a week ago. So far, nobody had come up with anything new on the technology. But the good news was, it allowed Chuck and Casey to enter without any of the guards asking any questions. If they did, Sarah would keep them entertained while they worked. Since none of the guards knew who she was, she could play the role of "helpless new agent with a lot of questions", and none of them would be the wiser.

Casey stood in the middle of the room and looked around as Chuck went to the computer. He readied what he hoped was the program to remove Casey's Intersect. The four days he spent programming the images since he found that potential solution were grueling, but he hoped the results would be what everybody desired.

Chuck looked over to him. "Ready, Casey?"

Casey was quite subdued but still nodded. "Thanks for doing this."

Chuck gave him a quick smile and then put on protective glasses. He typed a series of commands into the computer, and the doors slid shut. The lights turned out, and the images came up on the screen. Casey's eyes were fixated on them as the images flickered. The thousands of different images played themselves out on the monitors. Casey saw every single image.

The monitors shut themselves off, and Casey collapsed to the ground. Chuck quickly went over to him and checked Casey carefully. His mouth dropped open in shock and he began to tremble.

"NO!"

He felt again for Casey's pulse but couldn't find it. He couldn't see or hear Casey breathing. He began applying CPR in a panic.


	5. It's Amazing What We're Capable Of

_Hello there. I apologize for not updating recently, but I've been stressing out over Christmas like the rest of you have, I'm sure. Too many gifts to buy and not enough money? That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Anyway, I hope you like the latest installment._

_I also completed my entry for the Who Are You Challenge. Those stories should start being published in the next few days, so please enjoy stories from some of the best Chuck authors this site has. I'm also writing a quick one-shot story for Christmas. Be forewarned, it's insanely fluffy. In fact, it's so sweet, I recommend having an insulin shot standing by._

_Have a wonderful Christmas and could you please leave some reviews under my tree? Thanks!_

* * *

_**City of Industry, CA  
November 4, 2010  
10:15 AM**_

Chuck hovered frantically over Casey, attempting to revive him.

"I'm sure you won't mind this now," Chuck said in a panic as he gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Casey.

"Chuck, what's going on?" Sarah asked him over his earpiece.

"Sarah! Get in here quick! Casey went into cardiac arrest!"

Sarah's eyes widened, and she quickly turned to one of the guards. "Where's your med kit?" The guard pointed to a car nearby. Sarah ran over and opened the trunk. She pulled out the emergency medical kit from the car and sprinted inside the warehouse. She ran to Chuck and knelt on the other side of Casey. She quickly rifled through the medical kit.

"Keep going, Chuck. Thirty fast compressions, followed by two hard breaths." She silently counted Chuck's compressions on Casey's chest. On the thirtieth, she grabbed Casey's face and gave him two long breaths. As Chuck did the next set of compressions, she pulled the automated external defibrillator from the medical kit. She started charging it and ripped Casey's shirt open to place the pads on him. Chuck got through the second set of thirty compressions, and Sarah breathed into Casey's mouth twice more. Chuck started another set while Sarah watched the AED charge. It suddenly gave a steady beep.

"Clear, Chuck!"

Chuck backed off of Casey, and Sarah zapped him with the defibrillator. She checked his pulse and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"You did it," she said quietly. However, Chuck didn't look like someone who just saved a life.

"What happened? I thought I had it programmed correctly. What did I do wrong?"

Sarah pulled an oxygen mask from the medical kit and placed it over Casey's mouth. "You didn't do anything wrong. Not a lot of people know how the Intersect works. And the person who knew it best isn't around to help you."

"But I have all of his research. I should be able to figure this out. If Casey even lets me try again. I'll be lucky if he doesn't tear me limb from limb."

Sarah shook her head as she removed the AED pads from Casey's chest. "I seriously doubt he would do that."

After several long, agonizing moments, Casey's head slowly moved back and forth. He blinked a few times before his eyes opened, and he noticed Chuck and Sarah hovering over him and the oxygen mask over his mouth.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, you were dead for about ninety seconds, Case," Chuck replied with trepidation.

Casey's eyes darted back and forth. "Did someone give to me mouth-to-mouth? Tell me it was Walker. It better have been Walker."

"It was," Sarah replied in annoyance as she took the mask off of him. Casey slowly moved to a sitting position.

"Did it work?" he asked Chuck.

Chuck couldn't believe it. "Did it work? You were dead!"

Casey shrugged. "Grimes was dead, and we revived him. Starting to regret that. That would have solved two of my problems."

Chuck and Sarah gave him a dirty look as he slowly stood up.

"Back to the first question, Bartowski. How do we know if it worked? Is there something I can look at and see if I flash?"

Chuck hesitated before looking at the Intersect computer. "Let me see if there's an image file on there you can look at." Chuck went to the computer and did a search. "I found one. Have a look."

Casey went over to the computer and waited for Chuck to look away before opening the image. He flashed, seeing images of a chemical weapons facility and a set of map coordinates.

Casey shook his head as Chuck turned back to him. "It didn't work. And I think Beckman needs to send a team to Myanmar to make sure there's nothing going on near the Bago Yoma Forest."

Chuck was crestfallen as Sarah joined them at the computer. "I'm sorry. I thought I had programmed this right to take the Intersect out of your head."

"OK, you struck out the first time up. Get back to your father's house and start again."

"Are you out of your mind?" Sarah was up in arms. "You were dead five minutes ago, and you want to risk your life again?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sarah," Chuck replied in an even deeper funk than before.

Sarah exhaled in regret at her minor gaffe. "You know I didn't mean it that way, Chuck. John, at least ask yourself if this is worth it."

Casey was starting to get vexed. "Weren't you two hell-bent on getting this thing out of me in the first place? And now you're getting your lady feelings all up in a bunch? It's like any other mission. We get in trouble, and we get out of it because we're good agents. This thing doesn't work the first time, we try it again. And we keep trying until we get it right."

Casey grew quieter. "Besides, I'm not going to try and face Alex without putting in my best effort to get this out. You said I have to think differently these days, Walker. And you're right."

He turned to Chuck. "Keep working on it, and we'll keep hiding it from Beckman."

"But Case…" Chuck replied.

"Look, Orion or no Orion, you're still the best person for the job. Nobody knows this stuff better than you. You're a brainiac, remember? Time to use that computer in your head. And I don't mean the one Larkin put there."

"You're willing to risk your life on my abilities?"

Casey gave the slightest of smiles. "Wouldn't be the first time." He pointed to the AED. "But have that thing with you just in case."

Chuck shook his head and smiled. It was a vintage Casey response. Chuck helped him back to the car while Sarah gathered the medical kit and followed them.

_**Castle Underground Facility  
November 5, 2010  
11:00 AM**_

Casey descended the stairs into Castle during his break in the Buy More. He had a look of disgust on his face to rival the time he found Jeff tied-up naked in the break room with a ferret on a leash wrapped around his wrist.

"Everything OK, big guy?" Morgan asked.

"Having x-rated video games being played in the store by those two morons is not something you want to experience firsthand," he growled. "They even brought…attachments."

Morgan perked up. "Was it the one on the beach where you rescue the 18-year-old redhead in the bikini and…"

"This is not a conversation I want to have, Grimes!"

"Sorry," Morgan replied. He pulled the monitor around on the computer he was sitting at so Casey could see it. "I got a message from the Wicked Witch of the West."

"Show some respect. Beckman is one of the highest-ranking members of our military."

"OK sorry," Morgan replied in a humble voice. "You're right."

"Now, what did the Witch want?"

"Um, she's got the analyst geeks listening in on the phone and checking Percival's computer. Nothing so far. He hasn't made any calls."

"No communications at all? That's odd," Casey replied.

"They said there were a couple of emails, but they couldn't tell where they came from. The emails just contained a bunch of numbers."

"Numbers? GPS coordinates? Did they run them through the cryptography database?"

"All of that. They didn't come up with anything."

Casey stood silently for a moment. Usually he would pass a problem like this to Chuck, but he realized he might actually do a better job than the nerd, since he should have had a more-updated Intersect from The Ring than Chuck has from Fulcrum.

"Get me a printout of the emails," he ordered Morgan.

Morgan stared blankly for a moment before he caught on. "Oh, right. Sure." Morgan started printing the emails. "I forgot you can do that flashy thing like Chuck can. I mean, your usual solution for problems is to pound them into submission…" Morgan caught Casey's agitated expression. "…and I think I'll stop talking now."

"Wise choice," Casey huffed as he grabbed the emails off of the printer and began to study them. After a cursory flip through the pages, he took a closer look at the numbers on each page. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, and he couldn't detect a pattern. He turned to the third email and looked at a set of numbers halfway down the page. A series of images went though his mind, including an old ledger, some papers written in Russian, and images of a group of men beating up a victim and taking his possessions.

"I just flashed," Casey announced.

"You did?" Morgan was confused. "You know, it's hard to tell when you flash. You just sort of stare and appear pissed off. So really, you look like you always do."

Casey gave a quiet growl but continued. "Volkoff used to run numbers in the old days, just like the mafia did. He may have been using his numbering system to communicate with Percival."

"Whoah, sweet! Does that mean you can interpret all of this?"

Casey took a look at the emails. "That'd take a long time. Besides, the easier thing to do would be to see how Percival is translating the numbers into messages. He probably has a program on his computer to do it."

"But the CIA said he hasn't worked on any files on his computer."

Casey grunted in that manner when field agents knew something the pencil-pushers didn't. "Let me guess: they've been monitoring the file logs inside the computer to see if anything has been updated recently." Morgan nodded his assent. "Percival's likely has a program on his computer to wipe the logs of any file information. Tell the geeks at Langley to go through his computer file by file to find that translation document. They'll have to live with missing their _Star _Trek reruns tonight."

"You got it, boss," Morgan replied as he typed the message to Beckman regarding Casey's idea. He glanced at Casey. It was not a look he was accustomed to seeing from the menacing NSA agent. Casey almost appeared hesitant.

"Uh, Case? You still with us?" Morgan asked.

Casey looked at him for a moment. "Have you…talked to Alex…recently?"

"Talked? Well, I tried talking to her a couple of times this week. She kept it short. She didn't really tell me how she was doing. She said she was working on a couple of term papers for school. Why?"

"I…forget it," Casey quietly muttered.

"What, Case? You haven't talked to her?"

Casey shook his head. "We haven't talked since she stormed out last week. I guess she's still pissed off."

"Sounds like it."

"Look, can you…you know…talk to her? Ask her if I can come see her?"

Morgan's eyes widened. "Whoah! You're actually trying to communicate with someone? With words and all that?"

Casey growled loud enough to make a lion back off. "I just dropped a big juicy steak of embarrassment in your lap and you're gonna drown it in ketchup?"

"Sorry, Case. I'm sorry," Morgan backpedaled. "I'll talk to her. Look, I can't guarantee anything OK? She's pretty stubborn, you know."

Casey shook his head. "Can't imagine where she got that from."

"I have a few guesses…"

"That was sarcasm, moron."

Morgan eyed him with irritation and held out his hand. "Hey, here's your dinner, big guy. Now watch out for my hand!"

Casey exhaled in frustration. "Just…talk to her, please."

A shiver went through Morgan. "Wow, I even got a 'please'. You must really need this. OK. For you, buddy, I'll talk to Alex."

"Thank you."

Casey read over the email printouts as he returned to the Buy More, hoping and praying Jeff and Lester were already on their two-hour lunch break.

_**Topanga Mall, Canoga Park  
November 6, 2010  
2:00 PM**_

Ellie found one distinct disadvantage to being married to a heart surgeon: you can't yell at them because they're not around.

She was starting to think if she had chosen one of the other careers she considered while growing up…elementary schoolteacher, veterinarian, chef…she wouldn't have understood the time away from Devon. However as a doctor, she was quite familiar with being called away on emergencies, as she had to deal with them herself. It wasn't considered good decorum to nag someone who was busy trying to keep a patient alive. Still, she wished Devon was here to make the final decision on the baby's crib.

And as much as she adored Sarah, she was not Ellie's second choice to tag along with her.

Ellie never considered herself a shopaholic or particularly obsessed with material wealth, but compared to Sarah, she could be in the cast of _Sex and the City_. She was actually a bit jealous of Sarah. How does she always look so fabulous with so little effort? It drove her crazy sometimes when Sarah and Chuck waffled about their feelings towards each other. It was pretty obvious to her they were supposed to be together. But things appeared good on that front these days.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked Sarah as they perused the selections at the store.

"It's nice," Sarah replied with zero enthusiasm.

Ellie gave her a look. "I thought agents were supposed to be good at playing roles. Your 'I'm so excited my boyfriend's sister is going to have a baby!' persona needs a little work."

"What?" she said absentmindedly before she realized what was going on and shook her head clear. "I'm sorry, Ellie. That's…my mind's somewhere else today."

"Oh, I was just teasing you," Ellie replied with a big smile. "I know you're not much for being in shopping malls."

Sarah quietly smiled. She had spent good portions of her youth in shopping malls. However, instead of hanging out with friends, she was pulling cons with her father. Feigning an appendectomy attack while her father palmed expensive jewelry was a classic.

"I…just haven't seen much of Chuck in a few days. Either he came home after I went to bed or he just slept out at his father's house. He's been working on that program to get John's Intersect out of him almost non-stop."

"How is John doing?" Ellie asked her.

"Well, I guess he was convinced to try and get the Intersect out. It didn't work the first time, so Chuck is back at it again." She decided it would be best to leave out the part where Casey was dead for ninety seconds. "I guess I wasn't expecting Chuck to be so obsessed with working on this."

Ellie nodded in sympathy. "I hear you. He never talked to me very much while he was a freshman at Stanford. I didn't even find out about Jill until the spring semester. He would get an engineering project and he wouldn't let up on it. He gets fixated on solving problems like that and he ignores almost everything else."

Ellie was quiet as they looked at the various cribs. "I kind of missed that time with him. We were just starting to get used to relying on each other. Then he gets kicked out of Stanford, and I tried to be there for him, but I was in the middle of medical school, and…"

Ellie stopped and looked at Sarah. She noticed the look of remorse on Sarah's face. "Sarah? Are you OK?"

Sarah nodded. "I'm just…sometimes I forget everything you went through with Chuck. Your father leaving, what's going on with your mother, Chuck downloading the Intersect and being put in danger. It just...neither of you deserved that. I feel guilty that I was a part of it. I should have…"

"Sarah," Ellie said sharply. "I spent at least a half-dozen evenings with Jill in the three years she went out with Chuck, going to restaurants, inviting her to dinner with Devon and me. I never said anything to Chuck, but I always knew he wouldn't end up with her. There was something there, I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew she wasn't the one. But you…I knew within the first five minutes. You were the person Chuck was supposed to fall in love with. Even knowing what I know now, you always had this look in your eyes when you were around Chuck; that some part of you knew he was something special. Believe me; I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so fortunate you're part of our family."

Sarah smiled. She gave Ellie a hug. "Thank you, Ellie. I feel so grateful to have found all of you."

Ellie grinned. "Besides, everything turned out wonderfully. Chuck has you, I found Devon, and we've been together for 10 years."

"You know, I don't think I ever asked you how you met Devon. I assume it was in medical school, right?"

Ellie nodded. "Our first day, as a matter of fact. We were waiting for our first class to start, the instructor was late, and well…"

Sarah's eyes widened. "You didn't…"

Ellie wiggled her eyebrows. "Two minutes later, we were in the nearest supply closet. The man can kiss, let me tell you. By the time I got his shirt off, I didn't stand a chance. I had to have him."

Sarah had a grin on her she hadn't felt in ages. Probably because it was so rare she engaged in girl talk with anyone. "Why, Eleanor Faye Bartowski. I didn't know you had it in you."

"Oh, I had it in me. And then I had it out of me, and then in me, and then…" Sarah doubled over in laughter.

Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? It was…" she lowered her voice to imitate her husband. "…awesome."

Sarah continued to laugh. "I am going to have to watch out for you if we ever go to a club. A couple of drinks in you, and I can imagine you whipping your panties in the air while riding some shirtless guy who didn't know what hit him."

Ellie was laughing as hard as Sarah was. "Oh, I wish I was that adventurous. Thankfully, Devon was just as wonderful in everything else as he was in the supply closet that day. I knew he was the one." She patted her stomach. "Besides, I think I'm onto the next stage of my life now. My days of nightclubs are over."

Sarah nodded. "That little girl in there is going to be very lucky to have you for a mother."

Ellie smiled as they moved down the row of cribs. Both of them stopped at a solid wood crib.

"That's the one," Ellie said as her breath caught slightly. "That is the one that will be in my family for generations."

Sarah took a look around the crib and admired Ellie's taste. She took a look at the price tag. "I hope it's in your family for generations. It'll take you that long to pay it off."

Ellie glanced at the price and was having difficulty breathing for a much different reason now. "I…guess we can live in the apartment a few more years. Or find a house that doesn't require any sort of down payment. But this is a beautiful crib."

Sarah saw the salesman approaching them. She turned to Ellie. "Let me try a little something. Act like you're stressed out."

"That won't be too hard," Ellie replied. Sarah put on her best 'damsel in distress' look as the salesman came up to them.

"May I help you, ladies?" the salesman asked both of them, although his eyes never left Sarah.

"Oh, I hope so," Sarah replied in a slightly pouty voice. "We were shopping for my friend, and I just absolutely love this crib. I'm trying to talk her into it, but she's thinking of going to some chain store and see if there's a sale going on."

The salesman was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of Sarah, and she stood there with her hands on her hips and her chest sticking out to make sure he didn't. "Well, it is one of the best cribs out there. You'll have it for a long time."

"That's what I told her," Sarah replied as she turned towards Ellie and surreptitiously ran her hands along the salesman's arm. "I mean, this is her first child, and that first child is such an amazing event." Sarah's hand had moved up his shoulder and was now on the man's chest. The salesman was getting more and more flustered being in such proximity to Sarah. "Don't you think it's better to spend a little more now and know you picked a crib you love rather than spend less and find out later you made a bad decision? But…I don't know. I do sort of see her point, what with the way the economy is going…"

"Uh…let me see if I can talk to my manager," the salesman stammered.

Sarah went in for the kill and gave him a brilliant smile. "Oh, would you? You are so sweet. Thank you for helping us. You are doing my friend such a huge favor. She will be so happy."

"No…no problem," he nervously replied as he went to the back of the store. Ellie glared at Sarah.

"OK, it's official. I hate you," Ellie grumbled.

Sarah was shocked. "Why?"

"That damn salesman didn't look at me for one second! Even if I wasn't pregnant, he never would have taken his eyes off of you."

Sarah was annoyed. "Oh, don't even try to tell me that I can do that and you can't. You're a beautiful woman and you know it. You could have flirted just as easily as I did. Besides, it's part of my job to influence people. I trained for it. And this was nothing compared to some of the things I've had to do in my past. I have to admit doing a few things I'm not proud of now. But to help my friend afford a beautiful crib for her child? What better reason could there be to put what I learned to good use?"

The salesman returned. "Um, I'm not supposed to do this, but we're having a sale next week anyway, so I'm not really doing anything we wouldn't be doing then. I can take 20% off the price."

Sarah gave him the full-on innocent-girl routine and batted her crystal blue eyes at him. "Twenty?"

The salesman paused. "OK, thirty. But please don't tell my boss."

Sarah gave him a smile. "Your secret's safe with me, sweetie."

"Let me go get the paperwork."

The salesman walked back to the register. Sarah turned back to Ellie, who was smiling now.

"OK, I love you again. You just saved me $1200."

Sarah grinned. "See what a little harmless flirtation will do for you?"

Ellie smiled. "Remind me to take you with when we get the minivan."

Sarah's phone beeped. She took a look at it. "Oh, I have to get back to Castle. They have some information on our case. Will you be OK?"

"No problem. Just make sure you take Chuck home with you tonight. He's just like our father. He's been known not to shower, shave, or even eat when he gets obsessed with a project."

"Not on my watch he won't," Sarah replied with considerable determination. She gave Ellie a hug. "Take care, Ellie."

"You too. Bye."

Sarah left the mall to return to the Buy More.

_**Encino, CA  
November 7, 2010  
3:00 PM**_

Morgan knocked on the door to the house he played in quite a few times as a kid. It felt so odd to see this house again, but it had become Chuck's de facto "underground lair." Not that Chuck ever liked Morgan referring to it as that, and he liked Morgan's Dr. Evil impersonations even less.

Morgan peeked inside to see Chuck lying on a couch watching the TV. He smiled.

"See, that was the best thing about you. You get down, and you knew a little Captain Kirk would make you right with the world again."

Chuck turned towards him, but his melancholic expression remained unchanged. "I just needed a quick break. This thing is…it's driving me crazy. Casey was here yesterday. We tried it out, and nothing. I didn't even give him a heart attack. It didn't work whatsoever."

Chuck turned back to the TV to watch a scene from an old episode of _Star Trek_ on the television. "See, that's all Captain Kirk had to do! If it was a disease, Bones would come up with a cure. If it was a science problem, Spock would just use his Vulcan logic, and when the Klingons attacked, he'd tell Scotty to give him warp speed. The man could do anything. No wonder he spent all his time boinking those alien babes. What else did he need to do?"

Morgan looked at him oddly. "OK uh, Chuck? First of all, you have a girlfriend who's, like, a hundred times hotter than anyone Kirk had on Star Trek, right? Secondly, two words: _T.J. Hooker_. Brings ol' Shatner down a few, doesn't it? And third, you are a total genius. You can figure out the answer. But you're treating this like it's a final exam in school. And we all remember how your college career went."

Chuck glared at him. "Thank you for reminding me."

"Dude, come on. Even Jill said you got obsessed a lot. But that shouldn't be you. You're not trying to cure cancer; you're helping your partner. The job is yours; you're not getting fired. Don't be so fanatical about it. I mean, what good will it do to fix Casey if you screw yourself up in the process?"

Chuck exhaled in frustration. He looked at the television again. "See, you look at this and you just know everything will work out. Bones will come up with the cure to fix their old age, Kirk will pull the ol' Corbomite Maneuver on the Klingons, and the _Enterprise _is on to its next mission."

Morgan watched the episode with him for a few minutes. "Speaking of everything working out, Casey asked me to talk to Alex and get her to talk to him. Any advice on how to do that?"

Chuck was surprised. "Casey actually asked you for help?"

"I know, it's scaring me. It's like, I can't go back to him and tell him she won't talk to him. I'm freaking out, man."

"I doubt you can make her talk to him. She's as stubborn as he is. But maybe she needs someone to talk to. Just give her a nice, relaxed evening. Cook that one dinner Sarah showed you how to make. Maybe if she can let her guard down enough, she'll realize she has to talk to her father at some point."

Morgan thought about that for a moment before nodding in agreement. "OK, I'll do that. Are you sure cooking is the best route for me, though?"

Chuck smiled. "You're a lot more talented than you realize."

"Thanks, man." Morgan looked out the window. "Uh, Chuck? I think you might want to consider taking the day off from working on the computer."

"Why?"

"Because Mrs. Nerd Herder is coming up the walkway and I think she wants you to come home."

"That's exactly what I want," replied Sarah as she stood in the doorway. "Chuck, you're coming back with me one way or another. You need some time away from this."

"But Sarah, I…" He immediately stopped when he saw the look on her face. "OK, you win." She went over to him and took his hand to pull him up. Morgan walked behind them as they exited the house.

"OK, wish me luck with Alex," Morgan said.

"Good luck, buddy," Chuck replied.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked as she saw Morgan pull away.

"I guess Casey asked him to talk to Alex. He's just freaking out."

"Well, that's what I want you to stop doing about fixing Casey. You've been here for a week and it's really starting to show. You are going to spend time off the computer today."

Chuck nodded in begrudging conformity. "You're the boss."

"Come on, sweetie. We're going to have a nice romantic dinner and lay in front of the fireplace with a bottle of wine." She gave him a kiss and then rubbed her cheeks. "And the first thing you're going to do when you get home is shave."

Chuck looked down in embarrassment. "Sorry about that."

"No beards on you. That's my rule. Casey told me about what happened when Beckman fired you last year. He described the beard as 'creepy'."

Chuck was shocked. "Casey thought I was creepy? Wow. I was worse off than I thought."

"You have no idea how bad."

Chuck was dumbfounded as they got into Sarah's car and drove back to Burbank.

_**Echo Park  
November 7, 2010  
9:00 PM**_

Morgan and Alex were fully relaxed on the couch after a wonderful meal. Between classes and the fight with her father, Alex was still stressed out over what had happened. But she had to give Morgan credit: the man knew how to cook a good meal. She just hoped it wasn't the only recipe he knew.

"Mmmm, you are an angel, Morgan." Alex sighed contentedly as Morgan massaged her feet while she enjoyed a post-meal glass of wine.

"Well, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't help you relieve your stress? I know it's been tough for you. But I'm here to help."

"And I appreciate it," she replied as she moved up and gave him a kiss. "I owe you big time for this."

Morgan hesitated. "Well, I have to concede I did have ulterior motives for cooking you dinner and massaging your feet."

Alex gave him an angry glare. "Morgan, I don't care how many dinners you make for me or how much of my laundry you do or how many times you massage my feet. I am not putting on a Wonder Woman costume for you."

Morgan did a double-take. "What? No, no! That's not what I wanted. But since we're on the subject, are you sure that's a total non-negotiable?"

"Completely," she replied with substantial force. "What did you want me to do?"

"Actually, it's not for me. Your…your father is really upset. He wants to talk to you and, you know, try to straighten things out. I mean, what harm would it do to just talk?"

Alex brooded in anger momentarily. "Morgan, it goes a lot deeper than that. My mother used to cry all the time about her fiancé who was supposedly killed in the line of duty. It hurt her, and I think it still hurts her a bit to this day. I've wanted to tell her he was still alive, but what good would that do? What he did…"

"Look, I'm not saying to instantly forgive the guy. He's got a few faults." Alex gave him a weird look. "OK, a lot of faults. I've been on the receiving end of them many times. But this whole thing with Chuck and Sarah and pretending to work at the Buy More? He went along with it. He isn't Mr Gung-Ho, play-by-the-rules like he used to be. After you yelled at him, he went to Chuck the next day to have the Intersect taken out, even though he's defying orders to do it. A little bit of humanity has crept in there, and he's saved our lives quite a few times. I mean, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even be going out with you. And I won't live another day if I do anything even remotely bad to screw this up. Doesn't it say something for him that he wants you to be happy? I mean, he even tolerates me. That's saying a lot right there."

Alex shook her head. "You can't know what it's like to have your father abandon you, to let you live under a lie like that."

Morgan sat in silence for a moment. "My father left when I was 14. For a while, I thought I was the reason. I was a total screw-up in school, always getting in trouble. Chuck had to bail me out so many times, it's ridiculous. But when he left, I felt guilty that I drove him away. My mother tried to tell me that it wasn't my fault, that he was just a dirtbag who decided to go sleep with some nasty lady in a trailer park in Northridge. It turns out she was right. It drives me nuts sometimes that Big Mike is over sleeping with her now, but Big Mike's more of a man than my own dad ever was.

"I mean, we all do stupid things when we're young. You told me you were sick for two days when you tried that Everclear punch at that frat party. But you learn, right? You father, he made a mistake when he was young, but he thought he could protect the country by doing it. He didn't think first, just like the rest of us. But I'll bet the John Casey of today would love to tell his younger self not to do that if he was given the chance."

Alex sat there for a moment. She then moved up so she was next to Morgan and wrapped his arms around her. She was lost in thought as Morgan held on to her and gently kissed her temple.

"I'll try," she said quietly before turning to Morgan and giving him a kiss. "Thanks, Morgan."

"Hey, anytime," he gently replied. "I've been told I'm a good listener."

Alex wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're not a bad kisser, either." They began kissing each other.

Alex walked to her car several hours later. She took a look around, certain she thought she heard something. However, everything appeared normal. She got into her car and drove back to her apartment. The man who followed her took note of the address.


	6. Learning From Our Past

_Hi there. I have to cop to a serious case of writer's block to start the new year. I just couldn't get this chapter going. Three weeks were spent writing the first three pages, and I write the last ten in five hours today. If anybody knows why these things happen, they're a lot smarter than me. There will be eight chapters to this story, so two more to go after this one. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait for everybody. It's a bit light on our favorite nerd, but lots of good discussions happen during it. I hope I kept everybody in character._

_Once I'm done with this story, between doing beta work and watching Chuck (and doing synopses on IMDb), I'm going to write a couple of new Forrest and Slade stories. It's been a while since I touched on those two characters, and one of the stories will hopefully be one of the funniest stories I've ever written. Then I have my Valentine's Day story to write. Yes, it will be heavy Chuck and Sarah, and yes, it will be M-rated. I have yet to decide if it's a good thing people keep asking me to write M-rated stories or not._

_Enjoy this chapter and please leave reviews. Come on, I'm from Chicago. Do you know how depressing it is for a Bears fan to watch the Packers get the George Halas trophy on the Soldier Field turf? I mean, seriously?_

* * *

_**City of Industry, CA  
November 9, 2010  
10:00 AM**_

Chuck slammed his fist on the desk where the Intersect computer was. This was the sixth attempt to remove Casey's Intersect, and it was the sixth time they failed. On this attempt, Casey collapsed after the images were downloaded. Fortunately, he didn't need to be resuscitated again. Casey and he were the only ones there, making the options for giving Casey mouth-to-mouth incredibly limited.

"I'm sorry, Case."

Casey exhaled while trying to contain his aggravation. This was starting to drive him crazy, and it took effort not to lash out at Chuck. He knew Bartowski was trying his hardest.

"OK. Back to the drawing board, Bartowski."

Chuck leaned against the desk and put his head down. "I'm out of ideas. I've gone over this for almost two weeks and nothing new is coming into my mind."

"Come on. You're just frustrated you haven't come up with an answer yet. Just keep working at it."

Chuck hit his limit. "Are you not hearing me? I can't think of anything else! I've gone through all of my father's notes, I've tried program after program, spent night after night changing these damn files, and nothing! I'm sorry, but I failed, OK? Can't you just leave me alone about it?"

Casey slowly approached Chuck in a manner that would have scared him at any other time. "Need I remind you, you and Walker were the ones who were hell-bent on getting this thing out of me. I would have lived with it. And now you want to give up on it? I don't think so. You said you would get this thing out of me, and you're going to do it."

The two stared at each other momentarily. Chuck's anger over not getting Casey's Intersect out was starting to override his usual fear of being physically threatened by Casey. He almost looked ready to attack his NSA handler-turned-partner.

Fortunately, Casey's stance softened. His voice was much calmer. "Besides, this isn't like a final exam you can only take once. So just keep at it, and I'll keep working on being patient. In the meantime, we still have to take down Grishenko, so I'll make use of the Intersect until you're ready. Maybe it'll even help us stop this Russian prick. You only fail when you give up."

Chuck nodded slowly and even managed a hint of a smile through his disgruntlement. "Failure is not an option?"

Casey nodded and smirked. "Still the best line of _Apollo 13_. Ed Harris is highly underrated as a badass in the movies."

"You know, he was in that chick flick, _Stepmom_…"

"I'm going to pretend you never said that," Casey growled with a look that completely intimidated Chuck.

_**Echo Park  
November 9, 2010  
5:30 PM**_

"Chuck?"

Sarah came home from spending most of the day in Castle, waiting for any sort of lead on Grishenko. The analysts at Langley found the program Percival was using on his computer to translate Grishenko's emails, but they didn't have any solid intel to help the team with the mission.

She pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and looked around. Chuck was supposed to cook dinner for them this evening, and the kitchen looked undisturbed. Usually Chuck would be running around like a maniac trying to make sure everything was perfect. It drove her crazy sometimes when Chuck acted like he had to go out of his way to be the supposed 'perfect boyfriend'. Hadn't he figured out he already was? She may have spent three years protecting Chuck, but what she got back in return was more than she had ever hoped. For the first time in her life, she felt at home. She felt like a person instead of a machine. She had a life she truly wanted.

She walked into the bedroom to find Chuck lying on the bed with his hand over his eyes. She sat down next to him and took his other hand.

"Chuck?" she asked softly.

Chuck shook his head slowly without removing his hand from his eyes. "I don't know what to do, Sarah."

Sarah squeezed his hand tightly. "It's OK. I talked to Casey as I was leaving Castle. He told me what happened. To be honest, you scared him a little bit today."

He looked at her and gave a slight chuckle. "Yeah, right."

"OK, it wasn't like he thought his life was in danger, but he never saw you react that way before. You looked like you were ready to assault him."

Chuck quietly exhaled. "I'm just…this is getting to me. I really want to get the Intersect out of him. After everything he's done for us, I owe him this."

"And that's what's bothering both of us, Chuck," she replied with a bit of force behind it. "You're getting obsessed with helping him. Quit treating this like a do-or-die situation. You're letting it drive you crazy."

Chuck lay back on the pillow and closed his eyes again. "I wish I could come up with a solution to this. I know this was my dad's program, but I thought I knew enough about it to help Casey. I'm supposed to be smart, right? Even Casey has said that. It's probably the only good thing he's ever said about me."

Sarah quietly laughed. "I'm sure he has a lot more respect for you than that. He just doesn't express it very often. Look how much trouble he's having communicating with Alex."

"God, Alex." Chuck shook his head. "What the hell is Casey supposed to do if I can't get the Intersect out? He's already having a hard enough time trying to reach out to her, and…"

"Chuck," Sarah grabbed his hands and pulled him up to face her. "Do you remember our first night when you stopped that bomb from going off in the hotel? How did you do that?"

Chuck paused. "I crashed the computer controlling it."

"And how did you crash the computer?"

"I fed it that virus from Irene Demova's website."

Sarah nodded. "And how did you stop Peyman Alahi from getting the Nadan-I-Noor diamond?"

Chuck nodded and smiled, understanding Sarah's point. "I mailed it to Beckman and Graham."

Sarah held Chuck's face in her hands. "It's not just that you're smart, but you know how to think outside the box. You've come up with some crazy ideas, but they worked. Giving Sheik Rajiv Morgan's DeLorean, calling everybody on Professor Fleming's list at Stanford when we were trapped, all of that took a lot more than just being intelligent. You need to put that to work for you. Maybe there's more to this than what is in the Intersect program."

Chuck looked into her eyes. If there was one thing he always saw when he looked at Sarah, it was confidence. From the first day, she asked him to trust her. After everything they had been through, it was the safest thing anybody could do.

He slowly nodded. "I'll try."

She smiled and drew his face to hers for a kiss. "You'll come up with the answer. You always do."

He smiled and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Thanks, Sarah. I love you."

She kissed him again. "I love you, too."

_**Castle Underground Facility  
November 11, 2010  
9:30 AM**_

Sarah descended the stairs into Castle, and she again contemplated whether she liked the new setup better. She no longer worked the cover job in the Orange Orange, but that simply meant she had tedious assignments to complete down here rather than serving frozen yogurt to people in that orange t-shirt and those insanely tight white jeans she was certain the CIA designed to torture their own employees. Although Chuck's eyes lighting up every time he saw her in that outfit made the torture worth it. But if there was one advantage to this setup, she could arrive in a t-shirt and sweatpants and nobody would question her. In fact, they tended to give her more distance, as they assumed she would spend part of her day working out on the heavy bag in Castle. She had to concede using that to her advantage once or twice when she wasn't in much of a mood to socialize or write reports. Some of the more gun-shy operatives bent over backwards to do her favors if it kept her out of a bad mood.

She walked up to one of the computers where Morgan was doing some work and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

"AAAHHH!" Morgan practically hit the ceiling from being startled. He held onto the edge of the desk while his breathing returned to normal. "Seriously, how do you do that? You probably didn't even plan to sneak up on me and you still scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry," she replied. "I just wanted to see how things were going. Why are you down here, anyway? Doesn't the store open in thirty minutes?"

"I got a text from Beckman saying the computer geeks at Langley cracked Grishenko's messages. They're going to send the information over as soon as they have it. They also got something off of his phone. I told Big Mike to open the store for me."

Sarah nodded. "Good, maybe we can make some headway on this mission. It feels like it's been stuck in neutral for too long."

Morgan smiled. "Itching to put the tights and cape back on, Wonder Woman?"

Sarah rolled her eyes and exhaled. "Morgan, that gets very annoying after a while. I really wish you'd stop thinking of me as some creature from another planet. I'm no different than any other person. You've known me long enough to know I have my fair share of faults."

"OK, you realize always asking for extra cream in your coffee or asking for salad dressing on the side aren't character flaws, right? Nor is that way you brush your teeth where you do that weird thing on the back molars."

"Wait, how do you know how I brush my teeth?"

Morgan shied away a bit. "Chuck asked me not to say anything, but he talked about it when he had one of his dreamy, 'I-love-my-girlfriend-so-much' moments about you while we were playing _Halo_. He thought it was so cute the way you did that."

She smiled. "So now Chuck infringes on your gameplaying with stories of how much he loves me? And you put up with it?"

Morgan gave a tiny laugh. "Well, obviously now I understand that a bit better, what with going out with Alex. I get it. He's been through a lot in his life. You know, his mother just taking off like she did when he was 11, Ellie having to raise him, then Stanford. But you're, like, the complete opposite of all of that. You're exactly what Chuck needed. You see how he is. Any time he looks at you, it's like he won the lottery, you know? I think he's always looked at you like that."

Sarah looked down at the ground in humiliation. "That…that always gets to me, what Chuck had to go through for three years, pretending I was his girlfriend; we had to put on a good show for everybody. We kept putting him in danger, and the way I treated him sometimes because I was afraid to get close…I was in love with the guy from almost day 1 and we had to…"

"Hey," Morgan replied and waited until Sarah was looking at him again. "Obviously I see this differently now that I know what really happened. But I don't think you were putting on an act. I think you just let yourself be who you really wanted to be for once. You let your guard down. I don't mean as an agent; you're, like, in perpetual kick-ass mode. But maybe you let yourself be happy for once. Chuck told me about what you went through with your dad, getting teased at Buchanan High, all of that. I think when you were with Chuck, you…you know…you did what he did. You thought of yourself as a person instead of an agent. Chuck'll do that to you. That's just how he is. I mean, how else do you explain him putting up with me for all those years?"

She grinned and gave Morgan a hug. "I think Alex has brought out this other side of you. I like it. Never give that girl up."

Morgan laughed as he returned her hug. "Trust me, Sarah. The prospect of having my everything broken by Casey is not something I want to experience."

Morgan turned back to the monitor as the computer beeped at him, indicating some incoming files. "Sweet, here's the information." He quickly scanned through it as Sarah looked over his shoulder. "They're planning to meet at 1PM today. Wow, they're going to make the deal?"

Sarah looked over the information from the emails and from Percival's mobile phone. "They're probably meeting just to finalize terms. That restaurant is an outdoor one. It's a very public place. I'll have to talk to Casey to coordinate how we can spy on them."

Morgan grew a bit silent. "Oh, uh…Casey was actually supposed to meet with Alex at USC between her classes today. She's been very busy with mid-terms this week, so this was the only time she could spare. Do you want me to call Casey and tell him?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, it's OK. I don't want him missing that unless it's absolutely necessary. I can eavesdrop on Grishenko's meeting with Percival by myself. It wouldn't be the first time."

"You want me to help?"

"You don't have to. You have the store to run and…you'd really rather have a few hours away from Jeff and Lester, am I right?"

"Please? Pretty please?" Morgan was practically on his knees.

Sarah kept her laughter in check. "OK, fine. But you stay in the car and just listen in, OK?"

"Deal. I just have to go upstairs and tell Big Mike to watch the store."

"OK, come back down as soon as you can and we'll get ready."

Sarah watched Morgan bound up the stairs to the Buy More. She contemplated leaving a message for Casey, but he was probably more worried about talking to Alex today. She could certainly understand that, given the tap-dancing she had to do on numerous occasions regarding who she was. This was Casey's chance to reconnect with his family. As she discovered by being in Burbank for four years, family, whatever you defined it to be, was everything.

_**La Seranata Restaurant, Downtown Los Angeles  
November 11, 2010  
1:00 PM**_

Casey sat at a booth where he could keep close watch on the door and see when Alex would arrive…or even if she would arrive. Given how he left his last conversation with Alex eleven days ago, it was understandable if she decided to not meet with him. It was one of the rare times in his life when he was nervous. Ordinarily, he might have downed a few shots to take the edge off, but he thought it would be inappropriate to do that in front of his daughter, especially at lunchtime. He decided not to practice any sort of speech beforehand, figuring speaking from the heart was the better way to go. Granted, having an actual heart seemed a bit ironic to him, but he knew he couldn't feed any sort of BS line to her like he had with assets under his guard before and get away with it. She was way too smart for that.

He looked up when the door chimed and saw Alex look around the restaurant. She remained expressionless when she spotted him at his booth. It wasn't what Casey hoped for. He could have handled Alex being furious with him. But Alex looking like she arrived for a business meeting was a little jarring to him. He stood up out of manners as she walked to the booth and sat down in the seat opposite of him. They sat together in silence for several moments, each waiting for the other to break the ice.

Casey finally spoke up. "Were you hungry? We could get some lunch."

Alex shook her head. "I'm not. But go ahead, if you want. I'll just nibble on the chips and salsa."

Casey nodded. He flagged their server down. "A beef tenderloin filet in ranchero sauce and a glass of water, please."

"Just a diet soda for me, thanks," Alex said to the server. The server left, leaving Casey and Alex to return to staring at each other.

"Morgan…told me you went back to try and get that Intersect thing you have out of your head."

Casey nodded. "Bartowski is still working on a way to do it. We've tried a few times without success."

"I don't understand. What is an Intersect? Is it some sort of secret project?"

"I can't really give you a lot of details, but it's the reason I'm back in Burbank. It's basically a way to crunch data together and make intelligence work a lot more effectively. Anybody who has one possesses an advanced set of skills. But there can be side effects if you're not the type of person who can handle it."

"But you have one, so aren't you able to handle it?"

Casey shook his head. "That's one of the problems. We have no idea why I was able to handle it; thus we're having difficulty with trying to get it out."

"But you are trying to get it out? Morgan said you were defying orders to do it. You won't get in trouble?"

Casey gazed inattentively for a moment. "Sometimes our bosses forget we're human beings. They treat us like property and don't really care what happens to us."

Alex stared at him with some anger boiling under the surface. "At least now I know where you got that from."

Casey glared at her for the briefest of seconds before realizing how right she was. He spent his entire career before arriving in Burbank thinking the same way Beckman did. No regards for others, no emotions, nothing.

He looked down at the ground briefly. "I deserved that."

"What the hell happened to you? I can't buy this bullshit Morgan said about you making a mistake when you're young. Abandoning your family isn't just a mistake you make simply because you're young."

Casey shook his head and stared at the table, unable to meet Alex's gaze. "Morgan wasn't far off. I spent three years in the Army. Your mother was completely supportive of what I wanted. She was proud I had such ambition in life. But I was going to be discharged. I wasn't good enough to continue into OCS training. I…I was devastated. Everything I worked for was pulled out from under me. I was afraid to go back to Kathleen with this shame over my head. Then this man, this Colonel Keller, gave me a chance to redeem myself. Or so I thought. But I was too blind and too stupid to realize your mother didn't care about that. I hoped I could go back to her one day and be someone she'd be proud of. But, that's not how it worked. I made a deal with the devil, it turned out. The man was a traitor. It was bad enough he took me away from you before I even knew you existed; he then put you in danger."

For the first time in several moments, Casey looked up at Alex. "There probably isn't an apology good enough for what I did. And everything I've done since then…I haven't done much to redeem myself in the last twenty years. Then I came out here. These people…Bartowski, Sarah, Morgan, Ellie, Devon…they made me realize I can't keep doing what I do without caring how it affects other people. They care about me. It was so disconcerting at first. But they have a way of getting to you. They put themselves at risk for me as much as I do it for them. And they didn't sign up for any of it. They do it because they want to do it.

"I'd give anything to fix the last twenty years, even though I know that's impossible. But I hope you'll give me a chance to make things right."

Alex sat there and stared at her father. So many things were running through her mind. It was several moments before she spoke.

"I…I don't know if I can. It's hard to shake the image of seeing Mom cry when I was a little girl. I felt awful because I couldn't do anything to make her feel better. And now, for you to just ask me to forgive you like it's no big deal…I…I have to go. I have a two o'clock class."

Alex quickly got up and ran out of the restaurant. Casey followed her to the door, but Alex kept running. Casey's shoulders slumped as he went back to his booth.

Alex jogged for several blocks, trying to not break down and cry. She felt overwhelmed by what Casey told her. She didn't know whether to talk to him again or curse herself for ever listening to him in the first place. Her emotions were a jumble as she returned to the USC campus.

The man who followed her one block behind already knew her Thursday schedule. He just had to wait for her class in Vivian Hall to finish.

_**Red Lion Tavern, Los Angeles  
November 11, 2010  
1:15 PM**_

Sarah drove her Porsche to the parking lot across the street from the tavern. She took out a pair of high-powered binoculars and peered out at the lunchtime crowd. She could see Percival sitting by himself at a table.

"I see Percival, but no sign of Grishenko yet," she said to Morgan, who was sitting next to her in the passenger seat.

"Well, maybe he isn't going to show," Morgan said. "What do we do then?"

Sarah shook her head. "You're assuming he's not here. Just because he isn't sitting next to Percival doesn't mean he isn't somewhere nearby. He might be scouting to make sure Percival is alone."

"OK, you're right, you're right," Morgan humbly replied. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, even in that waitress outfit, you still don't blend in well."

"If this was any other town, I'd agree. But half the people who wait on tables in this town are aspiring actors and actresses. Women who look like me are a dime a dozen in L.A."

"Don't let Chuck ever hear you say that. I think we'd all agree that is no way to describe you."

She smiled. "Well, for today, it serves our purpose. Keep an eye on the restaurant and let me know if anything looks out of the ordinary."

"You got it, boss. Are you sure Percival won't spot you? He knows what you look like, and so does Grishenko."

"Blending in is what they teach us at Langley. I'll be fine. Keep an ear open."

She handed Morgan the binoculars and exited the car. She slipped around the back of the restaurant, put on an apron, and grabbed a tray. She started to move to the front of the restaurant and the group of tables set up outside. The outdoor patio was packed on such a sunny day, and some people were out of work for Veteran's Day.

"Sarah, Grishenko just sat down," Morgan quickly said over her earpiece.

"OK, stay calm. Keep eyes out for anybody paying more attention to them than they should." Morgan nodded. "Morgan, are you nodding again when you forgot you have to tell me you understand?"

Morgan quietly growled in annoyance at himself. "Sorry. I understand."

"Relax, you're doing fine," Sarah pleasantly replied. It was a bit of an odd contrast Chuck was always hesitant to going on missions, whereas Morgan was more worried about screwing one up. But Sarah had to give credit where it was due. For being thrown into the world of espionage, Morgan accepted it very well.

Sarah walked to a table near Grishenko and Percival to take their orders. Percival took a quick glance in her direction, but Sarah's back was to him.

"That's one of the things I love about California. Beautiful women everywhere you turn," he said to Grishenko, who looked like he wasn't in a mood to appreciate the scenery.

"We are not here to discuss women, Mr. Percival," Grishenko angrily replied.

"Ah, that is the trouble with you Russians. Too focused on your goals and not enough time to appreciate the finer things in life." He pointed to Sarah as she passed by several tables. "She reminds me of that lovely lady I met at the Masquerade Ball. Beautiful woman. Husband doesn't appreciate her. She would never have that problem if I had anything to say about it."

"Do you have your funds ready?" he quietly fumed at Percival.

"Of course. But I want to see what I'm getting for my money, of course."

"I figured you would. I'm ready to arrange a time for you to have a look at what we have in storage."

Sarah walked past Grishenko's and Percival's table, carefully placing a small listening device on a chair behind Percival. She kept walking without looking back.

"Perfect, Sarah. I can hear everything," Morgan called from the car.

"Good. Keep listening," she replied.

Grishenko caught Sarah again out of the corner of his eye as she took orders for lunch at another table. Something Percival said earlier resonated in his head. He looked across the street to see a car parked across Glendale Boulevard in front of the Cha-Cha Lounge. The sun reflecting off its windshield obscured his view of its occupant. But something didn't feel right.

He turned back to Percival. "Why don't we go now, so I can show you what I have to offer. I think you'll agree it is quite valuable."

Percival nodded. "Very well. The sooner we can complete this transaction, the better."

Grishenko motioned for one of his men to bring his car up.

"Sarah, they're going to where the equipment is right now," Morgan said from Sarah's Porsche.

"OK, keep an eye on what car they get in; get a license plate number and direction. Call Beckman to have satellite recon pick up the vehicle."

"You got it, boss."

A black SUV pulled up to the valet stand. One of Grishenko's men got behind the wheel while Grishenko and Percival climbed into the back. Morgan jotted down the license plate number as Sarah slipped quietly behind a row of cars to make her way back to her Porsche.

"Black Ford Explorer, I got the license plate," Morgan told Sarah as she got in the car. They're going north on Glendale."

"Nice work, Morgan," Sarah replied. Sarah got on her mobile phone as she started the car. "Target is a black Ford Explorer, license plate 2GAT123, heading north on Glendale."

Sarah pulled out and pursued the vehicle.

_**Vivian Hall, USC Campus  
November 11, 2010  
2:55 PM**_

Alex didn't pay much attention in her Calculus 345 class. It was hard to concentrate on anything since she left her father. She was feeling all sorts of conflict within her as she descended the stairs to head back to her apartment for the day. She tried calling Morgan, but his number went straight into voicemail. To some extent, she was upset with Morgan for begging her to talk to her father. She really wished he hadn't put her up to this. She couldn't believe Morgan wanted her to reconcile with her father, but perhaps he saw something to it she didn't. She was still brimming with anger over her father leaving her mother all those years ago just so he could keep his job. Morgan said it was a mistake anybody could have made. Perhaps it was. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

She walked down the road to the bus stop to head back to her apartment. She turned to see the van coming down the road. Suddenly her instincts went into overdrive. Perhaps it was related to being in danger at the ball, but it felt like something was wrong. She was ready to run. However, paying attention to the van made her miss the man who came up behind her. He fired a tranq pistol at her. Before she could turn, she lost consciousness and fell into his arms. He carried her to the van, whose door slid open as it pulled up. He put her unconscious body inside and entered the van himself. The van sped off.

_**Los Angeles, California  
November 11, 2010  
2:00 PM**_

Sarah and Morgan picked up the trail of the SUV from the people operating the NSA's satellite in geosynchronous orbit over the West Coast. They followed the van to a location near Ripple and Gilroy Streets, between the Golden State and Glendale Freeways.

"SatCon, verify our location," Sarah asked over her mobile phone.

"Confirmed. You should be within a block or two of them."

Morgan started looking around carefully. "Are there any places you could store a lot of computer equipment around here?"

Sarah was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. But something doesn't feel right."

"Whoah, wait. You mean they sent us on a wild good chase? There's no equipment here?"

Suddenly, Sarah's eyes widened. She started her car quickly. "Let's hope that's all this was."

She reached for the gearshift to put it in first and high-tail it out of the area. She slumped forward onto the steering wheel as the tranq dart hit her. Morgan quickly looked back and forth in wide-eyed fear.

"Sarah! What is…"

He didn't say anything else as a tranq dart hit him. His head fell back as he lost consciousness.


	7. A Team Effort

_And we come to the end of this story. I originally said there would be eight chapters, but I decided to leave a few items out and just go with what I had. I wanted to thank everybody for reading it, and I especially wanted to thank everybody for reviewing it, especially **Katsumara**, **BDaddyDL**, **Jimmy144**, **Jinxed97**, **PassionOverMind**, **CaptainRitteraSmith**, **Antivol**, and everybody else I missed. I got a lot of positive reviews for it, and those are the things that keep authors going._

_I'll probably take a break from writing on FanFiction, but I do have a script I'm submitting to the annual contest at Fox. Actually, the script is where the character of Jimmy Slade from my earlier stories originated. It's a sitcom script. Also I'll be doing some beta work for whomever needs it and finishing the clean-up of **Chuck vs. the Alpha Version**._

_Thanks again for reading, and don't forget to review!_

* * *

_**Unknown Location, Los Angeles  
November 11, 2010  
3:00 PM**_

Morgan slowly awoke in a chair in the middle of an empty warehouse. He felt a blindfold around him, and his hands and feet were tied. He was still a bit disoriented from the effects of the tranquilizer dart.

"Sarah?" he timidly eked out.

"Shhhh…" a voice hissed at him from his left.

"What, Sarah?" Morgan quietly replied, recognizing her voice.

"We don't want to give away we're awake. If they think we're still unconscious, they may not pay as much attention to us."

"Yeah, but what if they're, like, in the room right now?"

Sarah shook her head and smiled. Morgan still had a ways to go in the spy world. But at least he was willing to try. "They would have figured we're conscious by now."

"Morgan?" a voice to Sarah's left whispered out.

"Alex?" Morgan was shocked to hear her voice. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I fell unconscious after my last class at 'SC. They must have brought me here."

"You were probably tranquilized the same as us," Sarah replied.

"But why?"

"This would have to be Grishenko. He knew you two were working with us. They must be after the rest of the computer equipment and intend to use us as hostages."

"OK…uh, so not good," Morgan nervously replied. "I mean, Beckman wouldn't just give them all that stuff to save us, right? She doesn't really strike me as the warm, gooey type."

Sarah shook her head. "Her first instinct would be to tell the team guarding the equipment to destroy it and take it out of the equation. She would consider us expendable in a heartbeat."

"So, there's nothing we can do?" Alex asked.

"Somehow, we have to convince Grishenko to call Chuck and Casey. Make him believe they're the only ones who can deliver him the equipment."

"But wouldn't it be stupid of them to hand Grishenko the equipment, too?

"Yes, but they'll delay him long enough for us to figure out how to break free."

"OK, but how do we do that?" Morgan asked. "I mean, I've seen, like, a million escape plans before in the movies. Jackie Chan was always good at doing that, so…"

First thing's first," Sarah interrupted. "We have to convince them to call Chuck and Casey. Otherwise breaking free won't get us very far since we don't even know where we are."

"How?" Alex asked.

Sarah thought for a moment before a smile graced her lips. "Everybody said how much you reminded them of your father. Let's see how good you are at suppressing your natural instincts."

_**Castle Underground Facility  
November 11, 2010  
3:30 PM**_

Chuck descended the stairs into Castle. He took a look around at the employees who worked here now. In a way, it was disappointing. This facility always felt like that little secret he kept from the rest of the world. That behind his role as a mild-mannered Nerd Herd associate; he was this secret agent who saved the day again and again. It was all very Clark Kent in its way. Except in his case, Lois was a blonde…and was way more talented than he was, although she would never brag about it. Why can't she be a tiny bit arrogant once in a while? Closed-off and guarded he learned to accept about her. But didn't she get how talented and hot she was? He used to have this fear when they finally got together a year ago she would figure out she could do better than him and leave him in the dust. But luck was on his side. If anything, she grew closer to him. He smiled at that thought. He used to think the Intersect took his life away from him. Now he realized it gave him one beyond his wildest dreams.

He walked to the conference table where Casey was seated. However, Casey was not his usual busy self. He just sat at the table and stared out into space. Chuck instantly knew something wasn't right. Seeing Casey not working was more disturbing than seeing Jeff and Lester doing actual work.

"Everything OK, big guy?" Chuck timidly asked.

Casey continued to stare out into space. "Talked to Alex today."

Chuck stood near him nervously shifting back and forth on his feet. "Oh. It didn't go well?"

Casey shrugged. "She left things in the air. Said she was overwhelmed by all of it. Me coming back, the Intersect, everything."

"Well, it is a lot to take, meeting your father for the first time in your life when you thought he was dead."

Casey glared at him, although much of the annoyance behind it didn't surface. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Chuck sat down at the table next to him. "Case, you knew this could happen. At least she's undecided. She could have said she never wanted to see you again, especially after you yelled at everybody two weeks ago over the Intersect."

"Glad to see that Bartowski optimism still works," Casey replied acidly.

Chuck exhaled in frustration. "Remember when Ilsa came back and you found out she worked for the French SIS? You were mad as hell at her. You sat at home and drank yourself silly. You never wanted to talk to her again. But you came through when she needed you. There was still something there. And who knows what will happen in the future?"

"I think there's a lot more to what happened with me and Alex."

"OK, true. But just give her some time. Even without you there, she turned out great. She's in college, she was willing to help us with the mission, and she even found Morgan."

Casey turned to Chuck with a low growl. "Not exactly a good idea to remind a trained killer who his daughter is dating."

"Hey," Chuck sharply replied. "She could do a lot worse than Morgan. OK, Morgan needs to grow up a bit, you're right. Maybe even a lot. But he's been doing that. And even you have to admit Morgan would be the last person who would ever do anything to hurt Alex. He practically worships the ground she walks on. You think Jill was ever like that with me? Or do you think Bryce ever thought he was lucky to be with Sarah?"

Casey slowly let out a breath and nodded. "Point taken." He was quiet for a moment. "And if it means anything, you and Walker getting together was the best thing to happen to the both of you."

Chuck grinned. "Aww…" He went to put his arms around Casey.

"Don't even…" Casey growled.

Chuck reversed his course. "Some day, we're gonna handcuff you to a pole and take turns hugging you until you crack. Think you can stand up to Ellie?"

Chuck's iPhone rang before Casey could give an answer. He saw Sarah's picture on the caller ID.

"Hey Sarah," Chuck began with a smile. It faded away instantly. "Alex, why are you calling from Sarah's phone?"

Casey rose in concern.

_**Unknown Location, Los Angeles  
November 11, 2010  
3:25 PM**_

"Alex, no!"

"Forget it, Morgan! This is the only way they'll let us live. You may not have the guts to tell Sarah what she can go do with herself, but I do!"

"Enough, Alex!" If not for the blindfold, Alex would have been on the receiving end of Sarah's most threatening glare. "You are not telling them how to get the computer equipment!"

"Shut up! You want to die for the old stars and stripes, you go right ahead. I'm getting my boyfriend and me out of here."

"You are not telling them about the equipment!"

"What is going on?

Sarah, Morgan, and Alex turned towards the direction of the voice. Grishenko walked out into the middle of the warehouse with his men. The blindfolds were removed from them.

"I want to make a deal," Alex said in a tone of desperation. "Let my boyfriend and me go, and I'll tell you how to get the computer equipment."

Grishenko smiled and shook his head. He went over to Alex. "And why should I believe an American spy?"

A few tears could be seen in Alex's eyes. "That's the point! I'm not a spy! This bitch roped my boyfriend into trying to take you down and I found out. I don't work for the government. I'm a student at USC! Isn't that where you found me?"

Grishenko turned to the man who captured in Alex, who nodded in confirmation of what Alex said.

"If you're not a spy, then how do you know you can get me the equipment?"

"Alex, please! They'll just kill us anyway!" Morgan pleaded.

Alex didn't listen. "I overheard Agent Walker talking with her co-workers. They're guarding the equipment. If you try to call the government, they'll just destroy anything there. But if you call her co-workers directly, they might be willing to bargain. They can get the team guarding the equipment away from the warehouse so you can go in."

"And why would they do that?"

Alex started shaking. She then looked down at the ground. "One of them is my father."

Grishenko looked at her in surprise. "Your father?"

Alex shook her head. "I haven't seen the son of a bitch my entire life. He walked out on my mother when I was an infant. You can put a bullet through his skull for all I care."

Grishenko appraised her for a moment. "It doesn't sound like he can be trusted. What about the other one? You said she had more than one co-worker."

Alex, shut up," Sarah growled at her.

"You tell her and I will never speak to you again," Morgan added.

"And if I don't, you won't be alive to speak to anybody again!" Alex shouted in his direction before turning back to Grishenko. "The other one is her boyfriend. His number is probably in her phone."

Grishenko looked behind him, and one of the men brought Sarah's phone to him. He scrolled through the list of names. He then showed the phone to Alex.

"Is that him?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, it's Chuck. His name is Chuck Stavros."

"You stupid bitch!" Sarah shouted at Alex. "Do you honestly believe this bastard will let you live!"

"Shut up!" Grishenko angrily slapped Sarah across the face. He then turned back to Alex. "If I get the equipment, you and your boyfriend will walk away from this. I promise."

Grishenko dialed Chuck's number and put the phone against Alex's face.

_**Castle Underground Facility  
November 11, 2010  
3:35 PM**_

Chuck, it's Alex."

"Alex, why are you calling from Sarah's phone?"

Please, just give them what they want and they'll let us go! I'm…"

Chuck's eyes widened. He put the phone on the desk and hit the speaker. Casey ran to a computer to attempt a trace on Sarah's phone.

"Mr. Stavros, I expect to see you at the warehouse where we found the equipment at five. Get rid of the team guarding it. Nobody but you and your partner is to be there. If you attempt anything, we will kill Alex, her boyfriend, and your girlfriend."

He immediately hung up the phone. Casey slammed his fist on the table.

"Not enough time to trace it," he said in frustration.

Chuck's fear was rising. "Why would Alex be pleading for her life like that? She must know they would never let her go. And if not, Sarah would have told her."

Casey went over what Alex and Grishenko said in his mind. "She does know that. Walker must have a plan in mind and Alex was acting. But why would Grishenko call you Stavros?" Casey was silent for a moment. "Wait, didn't Walker get loose from her ropes in order to free you from that warehouse when Stavros captured the two of you?"

Chuck was frozen a moment. "Yes, she did. She got loose and started taking out Stavros' men when you found us. Is she going to try the same thing there?"

"If she is, we have to delay Grishenko long enough for her to contact us. Any ideas, Bartowski?"

Chuck gave it some thought. "Perhaps it's time I put my skills to good use."

"I'm assuming the Intersect will come into play at some point. Both yours and mine."

Chuck shook his head and smiled. "I was thinking of something else."

_**Unknown Location, Los Angeles  
November 11, 2010  
4:00 PM**_

Grishenko gathered everybody at the warehouse out of earshot of Sarah, Morgan, and Alex.

"We will go to the warehouse and verify the government team is gone. We take the two agents with us. They could prove to be of some value to us." He turned to the four men who were to be left behind. "Wait for our call, just in case they won't make a move without seeing their comrades alive. Once we're done, get rid of those three."

The four men nodded in agreement. Grishenko took the remaining men out of the warehouse.

Sarah, Morgan, and Alex remained in their chairs. Sarah tried to get a lay of the land, but the warehouse looked like every other one she had seen in her life. There were no windows, and it appeared Grishenko's men were in an office at the far end. She looked around for surveillance cameras, but she could not find any.

"Was that OK?" Alex quietly asked Sarah.

"You did great. Very convincing."

"But now what?" Morgan asked.

"Can you move your chair closer to me?" Sarah asked him.

Morgan struggled against the ropes tying him to the chair. The chair scraped against the ground.

"Quietly!" Sarah hissed.

"Sorry," Morgan whispered as he leaned to his left. He got two of the chair legs in the air. He leaned back to lift a third leg into the air, allowing him to pivot towards Sarah. He then leaned in the opposite direction to pivot on the other chair leg towards her.

"Nice. Keep going," Sarah whispered as she leaned to her right to do the same thing. They moved their chairs next to each other.

"OK, now pivot the chair so your back is to me. I have a knife under my skirt on my right leg."

Morgan froze. "Whoah, wait. What will Chuck…I mean, I want to help and all that, but Alex is…"

"Morgan!" Sarah and Alex growled at the same time.

"Sorry, sorry," he muttered as he slinked in his chair. He reached back to find the knife. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to touch you there! Totally an accident, I swear!"

Sarah was incredulous. "Morgan, that was the armrest on the chair."

"What? Sorry, my fault."

"Exactly what did you think you were grabbing…" Alex started with some hostility in her words.

"Never mind, just keep going," Sarah encouraged. Morgan finally got a hold of the knife handle. "OK, good. Pull it out slowly."

Morgan got the knife out of its sheath. Sarah carefully leaned to her right.

"OK, move your hand to the right," she told Morgan. "A little more…a little more. Now let the knife just fall out of your hands."

Morgan let go of the knife, but it bounced off of his thumb. The knife fell towards the floor, but Sarah managed to stretch out her hands and grab it before it hit the ground.

"Whew, got it. Morgan, move your chair back so they don't suspect anything."

Morgan moved his chair back to its original spot while Sarah worked on the ropes tying her hands together.

_**City of Industry, CA  
November 11, 2010  
4:45 PM**_

Chuck and Casey drove up to the warehouse and stopped at the command center for the team guarding the equipment. Casey immediately got out of the car and flashed his ID.

"Who is in charge?" The team commander approached him. Casey pulled out a map of the area. "Commander, you are to take your team and fall back to this position."

"Sir, we are under orders not to leave…"

"This is coming from General Beckman herself. We received intel indicating a terrorist group may attempt to seize the assets in the warehouse. We want the group captured here and now, but we need them to think you've been sent away. Otherwise, they'll know something's wrong. If you haven't gotten a signal from me by 1715 hours, you orders are to surround the building and breach the structure. Tear gas, flashbangs, the works. Detain anybody and everybody you find. Also contact the L.A.P.D. and CHP and have them on standby in case one of these bastards make it out of the complex and try to flee. Fall back right now and make the necessary preparations."

"Yes, sir," the team commander replied. He signaled for his men to fall back per Casey's orders.

Casey turned to Chuck. "We'll keep out of sight until they arrive. You sure you know what you're doing?"

Chuck smiled. "All those years at the Buy More are finally going to pay off."

_**Unknown Location, Los Angeles  
November 11, 2010  
5:00 PM**_

"Got it," Sarah quietly whispered.

She carefully loosened the ropes tying her wrists together to slip her hand out of them.

"That took a while," Morgan said. "Isn't there some really cool spy class where they teach you about slipping out of ropes or handcuffs or something? I figured you'd get loose in, like, two seconds."

"Next time, I'll let you try it," Sarah replied with some irritation. She took the knife and cut the ropes holding her legs to the chair. Footsteps were heard in the distance.

"Damn, it must be five o'clock," Sarah replied as she fixed her arms and legs to make it look like she was still tied up. "Alex, are you ready?"

"And I thought those theater classes were just a fun break between Calculus and Physics," she replied as she hung her head.

Two of the men approached Sarah, Morgan, and Alex from the opposite end of the warehouse. Sarah kept a wary eye on them. One of them had a gun out.

"Oh, God, what have I done? They're going to kill us! We're never getting out of here alive!" Alex screamed as she worked herself into a frenzy. The two men approached her.

"Hey, calm down, lady. You heard the boss. You're being let go, right? So quit screaming."

"No we won't! God, Sarah, I' m so sorry! You were right. Why don't you just kill us now, huh? Don't play this crap with us! You were always going to kill us!"

"Of course we…"

"LIAR!" Alex belted out in absolute terror. "Please! Just kill us now! I can't stand waiting!"

The man closest to her exhaled. "OK, we'll end it nice and painless for you. You won't feel a thing."

The man closer to Sarah took a step towards Alex and turned his back to her. Sarah slipped her feet out of the ropes and jumped up. She spun and gave a roundhouse kick to the back of the man's head, who fell forward and knocked his partner down. Sarah quickly cut the ropes holding Alex, who jumped out of the chair and out of the way as the two men got up. Sarah landed a hard chop at the throat of one man and sent a back kick into the other. Alex grabbed the knife and freed Morgan. One of the assailants tried to pull his gun out, but Alex threw the knife, nailing him in the arm and forcing him to drop his gun. Sarah landed a vicious hook on that man to knock him unconscious. The second man charged her from behind.

He was knocked unconscious two steps shy of Sarah. She turned around to see Morgan holding the chair he used to smash over the man's head.

Sarah was relieved. "It is scary how far you've come, Morgan."

He shrugged and smiled as he put the remains of the chair down. "Beats electrocuting myself. I mean, it was days before my hands stopped shaking. You know how hard it is to play _Halo_ when you can't hold the controller steady?"

Sarah searched Grishenko's men and found their mobile phones. She took their guns and activated the emergency callout on her phone.

"Shouldn't we call Chuck and tell him we're OK?" Alex asked.

"Not just yet," Sarah replied. "Once we have this place secured, we can call them. For all we know, there might be a dozen more men here. It'll take the NSA anywhere from two to ten minutes to get here, but they'll secure the building once we do."

"But what if Grishenko gets away with the computer equipment?"

"Don't worry," Sarah replied in complete confidence. "Your father won't let that happen. He's saved the day more times than we'll ever know."

Sarah quietly walked along the wall of the warehouse with Morgan and Alex on her heels. She kept the gun in front of her as they went around a corner. An arm knocked the gun out of her hand, followed by a punch to her face. Sarah was knocked down, and Morgan and Alex jumped back. The remaining two men tried to go after them, but Sarah swept her leg to knock them to the ground. She bounced up and landed a roundhouse kick on one of the men as he tried to get up. She threw a wicked jab at the other before he could get to his feet. Morgan and Alex quickly got up. Alex ran over to Sarah.

"Are you OK?" Alex asked her.

"Fine," Sarah quickly replied. "Where did that gun end up…"

"WATCH IT!" Morgan ran and pushed Sarah and Alex down as Percival fired from the door. Morgan collapsed as he was hit.

"Morgan!" Alex cried as she crawled over to him, holding onto his bleeding shoulder. Sarah quickly looked around for the gun as Percival kept his gun aimed at her. He was completely beside himself.

"You try to seduce me? To try and take me down?" He cocked the gun.

The door to the warehouse burst open and NSA agents swarmed in.

"Drop the gun! Now!" A half-dozen agents trained their guns on Percival, taking him by surprise. He dropped the gun to the ground. Two agents placed him in handcuffs as the remaining four began to search the warehouse. Two EMTs went to Morgan's aid.

Sarah joined them. "Morgan, are you OK?"

Morgan growled in pain from being shot as Alex held him in her arms. "God, is it supposed to hurt this much?"

Sarah smiled and knelt down next to him as the EMTs attended to him. "I'm afraid so."

"Oh, man. How do you and Casey do it?"

"Believe me. Nobody can teach you to be brave. That was all you."

"So, I'm like, a real hero now, right?"

Sarah patted his uninjured shoulder. "You've been one for quite a while, Morgan. It doesn't get any more heroic than what you just did."

Alex held Morgan's hand while the EMTs gently loaded him onto a stretcher. Sarah placed a call to Casey.

_**City of Industry, CA  
November 11, 2010  
5:00 PM**_

Chuck and Casey watched Grishenko exit an SUV with a half-dozen men. They walked to the entrance of the warehouse with their guns out. Chuck and Casey slowly walked out of the warehouse with their hands up.

"The team is gone. I ordered them to stand down," Casey said.

"Very good," Grishenko replied. He trained his gun on them. "However, I do not just want the equipment."

Chuck was confused. "What…what are you talking about?"

Grishenko held up a flash drive. "Surveillance footage from the warehouse and from the hotel. We have a full file on Colonel Casey. Suddenly, he has all of these skills he picked up since we last saw him? How did he do that? And of course, Agent Carmichael, you are very familiar to us."

Grishenko motioned with his gun, and his men moved Chuck and Casey back in the warehouse. They walked to the room where the Intersect computer was.

"And this room," Grishenko continued. "All of these monitors but only one computer? What is controlled from here? Is it a surveillance system? A way to spy on everyone?"

"Uh, actually, actually, this is really cool stuff," Chuck nervously replied as he pointed at the computer in the middle of the room. "This is a Roark R7-B computer with a 4 terabyte hard drive and 32 gigs of ram. It's a totally state-of-the-art computer."

"And the monitors?"

"Well, the new RIOS 4 operating system lets you put different windows on different monitors. We think The Ring was experimenting with it. But when we got to it, the computer was damaged. We think they downloaded a virus and wiped it out. We were trying to restore the computer when you showed up."

Behind Chuck, Casey's mobile phone vibrated. He slipped it out of his pocket undetected and quickly glanced at it.

_We're safe. Operation Stavros worked. Take them out._

Grishenko growled and put his gun to Chuck's head. "You are stalling, Carmichael."

Chuck looked around as his Intersect kicked into action. Grishenko's men closed in, and Casey felt his Intersect locate his combat program.

Casey stood next to Chuck. "Well, guess what, Grishenko?"

Casey's hand snaked out and grabbed Grishenko's wrist, pulling the gun away from Chuck.

"You're right."

Casey let out a primal scream as he head-butted Grishenko. Chuck pushed off of Casey's shoulders into the air and whipped his leg at the head of one of Grishenko's men to knock him down. Casey spun and landed a jab at the man to his left then pivoted to land a roundhouse kick the man behind him. Chuck landed a palm strike at a fourth man and back-kicked another man to the ground. Casey grabbed Chuck and whipped him around to land a hard boot to two more men. Grishenko tried to get up and aim his gun. Casey threw a haymaker at him to put him down permanently. Chuck spun in the air and landed a flying kick at the last man to knock him out.

Casey turned to Chuck, still breathing hard from taking out Grishenko's men. He gave a grunt of satisfaction.

"I can see why you like this thing, Bartowski. Quite the adrenaline rush."

Chuck looked at Casey in wide-eyed shock. "That's it!"

Chuck ran for the Intersect computer and found the first program he tried to get Casey's Intersect out. He activated the program. The door to the Intersect room slid shut.

"Bartowski, what are you…" Casey growled.

"Adrenaline, Case!" Chuck turned and covered his eyes as the lights went out and the screens filled with thousands of images. Casey instinctively tried to cover his eyes, but he was too late. His mind fixated on the images as they flashed on the monitors. The program ended, and Casey collapsed to the ground.

The lights came on in the room, and the door slid open slowly. Chuck opened his eyes and ran for Casey. He checked for a pulse.

"Thank God, you still have a pulse," Chuck said to the unconscious Casey. "Come on, buddy. Wake up…wake up…"

After several agonizing moments, Casey slowly moved his head back and forth. His eyes opened, and he blinked several times to clear his vision.

"What the hell was that, Bartowski?" Casey asked, slurring his words in the process.

Chuck was hopping around like someone who injected Red Bull directly into their bloodstream. "Come on. We have to find out."

He took Casey's hands and pulled him to his feet. Casey stumbled, but Chuck hung onto him as he led Casey to the Intersect computer. He located the picture in the computer he used before.

"Let me know what happens," Chuck said in a rush as he hit the ENTER key on the keyboard and looked away. An image appeared on the computer, and Casey stared at it. He blinked to make sure he was seeing it correctly.

"Was something supposed to happen, Bartowski?" Casey asked with a slowly fading patience.

Chuck reached for the off switch on the monitor to make the image disappear. "Remember? That was the image we used to test if you had the Intersect in you? You didn't flash."

Casey was stunned. "You got it out? You fixed the program? What does adrenaline have to do with it?"

Chuck's grin was ear-to-ear. "You could say Dr. McCoy saved you. Sarah told me maybe there was something more to fixing this than programming the Intersect, and then suddenly I remembered watching that _Star Trek_ episode. It was the one where Kirk and the crew became really old. Actually, not a lot of people liked it, but I think it was that Commodore Stocker who…"

"Enough with the nerdgasm! What are you talking about?"

"Chekov didn't get the disease because of adrenaline going through his system. It finally dawned on me you just took out three men when the Intersect turned on the last time. You must have had a lot of adrenaline going through your system. Your system was ready for the shock of the images. That's why it didn't work any other time. This was the same program I tried to rid you of the Intersect the first time. Except it almost killed you. The others weren't potent enough to even make a dent."

"And I just finished taking out Grishenko's men, so my system was running at high-speed right then."

"Exactly, and this time you were able to handle it."

Casey quietly chuckled. Chuck looked at him oddly. "What?"

"You've been slaving over this thing for weeks and getting ticked off, and it turns out you got the thing right the first time."

Chuck suddenly realized Casey was right. He groaned and gave himself the full face palm.

"I don't believe it," Chuck wailed in frustration.

Casey continued to chuckle. "Walker's gonna love to hear about this one. She got really cranky while you weren't around. Might have to loan her an extra set of handcuffs."

Casey pulled out his radio to signal the team commander to come in and help process Grishenko's men. Chuck leaned on the table housing the Intersect computer and shook his head sadly.

_**Westside Medical Center  
November 11, 2010  
8:00 PM**_

Casey walked down the hallway to Morgan's room. He saw Alex standing in the doorway looking into the room. He stood quietly a few steps behind her as she watched Morgan while he slept. Morgan was in a hospital gown with a sling on his left arm.

Alex turned around and saw her father there. "Hi," she said quietly.

"Are you OK?" he gently asked, to which she nodded. Casey gestured to Morgan in the hospital room. "I heard he was the big hero today."

Alex nodded. "Percival almost shot me. Morgan pushed me out of the way."

Casey grunted in approval. "I gotta admit, that bearded little troll…" he stopped and corrected himself. "Morgan has really surprised me. The kid has a lot of guts; I gotta hand it to him. Very loyal, too. He got Bartowski through a lot of tough times when they were young."

Alex looked at her father for a moment. "So I have your full blessing to go out with him?"

Casey looked down at the ground. "I don't think I've earned the right to tell you who you should and shouldn't date."

"Everybody talks so highly of you here. Devon, Ellie, Sarah, Chuck, Morgan. They really want to help you."

"They have. Chuck got my Intersect out. He figured out how I got it in the first place. From there it was easy." Casey was silent for a moment. "This job…things are a lot different these days. I don't know if it's them or if I'm just getting older or…I don't know. I don't think I've ever cared for a group of people more than I care for all of them. It's not just about guarding an important government asset or keeping the country safe anymore. I tried not to get close to anybody before because I'd always have to leave them. But now…"

Alex sighed and wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I…it's hard for me to accept you leaving Mom all those years ago. But I was wrong about one thing. You're not some asshole who didn't give a damn whom he hurt. You were just trying to do the right thing. You were trying to help as best as you could."

Alex stepped slowly to Casey and put her arms around him. "I'm sorry about what I said, Dad."

Casey was briefly surprised but put his arms around her. "No need to be sorry, Alex. I made a bad decision twenty years ago. I should be apologizing to you."

Alex's grip around Casey tightened. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have met Morgan, right?"

Casey quietly growled. "Why couldn't Sarah save your life? That would have made things so much easier."

Alex giggled. "Hey, think of all the drug addicts and criminals and idiots I could have fallen for, Dad."

Casey sighed. "Good point."

"I just need time to get used to all of this. Can you be patient? Give me some time?"

"Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

Alex kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad."

Casey nodded and held her face in his hands. "Hey, anything for my daughter."

Chuck sat in the waiting room at the hospital. Devon gave him the report on Morgan. He was relieved Morgan would be OK, but he kept his distance from the room. He wanted to give Alex the space she needed.

Sarah came down the hall after returning from Castle. She finished the report on capturing Percival and some of Grishenko's men at the warehouse. She requested Morgan be given a special commendation for saving Alex's life and hers.

She walked up to Chuck and gave him a kiss. "Mmmm, so my advice actually worked for you, I heard?"

Chuck weakly smiled. "Yes. Well, Morgan gets a partial-credit. He's the resident Trekkie in our little group."

Sarah nodded. "I certainly understand now why you've stayed friends with him your entire life. The man will do anything for you."

"That he will."

"Now, about you and your obsessive behavior…"

Chuck exhaled. "You're right. I'm sorry. I got too worried about solving the problem. I had blinders on."

"Well, now that you'll be home again, you can make it up to me." She ran her finger seductively along his cheek and sat in his lap. "And I have a few ideas on that."

Chuck perked up at that. "Really? What did you have in mind?"

"Well, my laptop has been acting funny lately, and I accidentally erased a few songs on my iPod. You can recover those, right? And the wi-fi has been acting up…"

Chuck shook his head and laughed. Sarah gave him a big grin and kissed him.

"Let's go home and get some rest. We can visit Morgan in the morning."

Chuck nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."

Chuck and Sarah walked out of the hospital and headed for her car.


End file.
